;
and bade him take the men on and secure quarters at the inn. Attacked
instantly by suspicion and curiosity, he demurred stoutly to leaving me,
and might have persisted in his refusal had I not pulled up, and clearly
shown him that I would have my own way in this case or come to an open
breach. He shrank, as I expected, from the latter alternative, and,
bidding me a sullen adieu, trotted on with his troop. I waited until
they were out of sight, and then, turning the Cid's head, crossed a
small brook which divided the road from the chase, and choosing a
ride which seemed to pierce the wood in the direction of the Chateau,
proceeded down it, keeping a sharp look-out on either hand.

It was then, my thoughts turning to the lady who was now so near, and
who, noble, rich, and a stranger, seemed, as I approached her, not the
least formidable of the embarrassments before me--it was then that I
made a discovery which sent a cold shiver through my frame, and in
a moment swept all memory of my paltry ten crowns from my head.
Ten crowns! Alas! I had lost that which was worth all my crowns put
together--the broken coin which the King of Navarre had entrusted to
me, and which formed my sole credential, my only means of persuading
Mademoiselle de la Vire that I came from him. I had put it in my pouch,
and of course, though the loss of it only came home to my mind now, it
had disappeared with the rest.

I drew rein and sat for some time motionless, the image of despair.
The wind which stirred the naked boughs overhead, and whirled the
dead leaves in volleys past my feet, and died away at last among the
whispering bracken, met nowhere with wretchedness greater, I believe,
than was mine at that moment.

CHAPTER IV. MADEMOISELLE DE LA VIRE.

My first desperate impulse on discovering the magnitude of my loss was
to ride after the knaves and demand the token at the sword's point. The
certainty, however, of finding them united, and the difficulty of saying
which of the five possessed what I wanted, led me to reject this plan
as I grew cooler; and since I did not dream, even in this dilemma, of
abandoning the expedition the only alternative seemed to be to act as
if I still had the broken coin, and essay what a frank explanation might
effect when the time came.

After some wretched, very wretched, moments of debate, I resolved to
adopt this course; and, for the present, thinking I might gain
some knowledge of the surroundings whil