t into one of the holsters of his saddle.

The persons whom he had left at Avignon who were curious to know if
this could be the terrible Morgan, the terror of the Midi, might have
convinced themselves with their own eyes, had they met him on the road
between Avignon and Bedarides, whether the bandit's appearance was as
terrifying as his renown. We do not hesitate to assert that the features
now revealed would have harmonized so little with the picture their
prejudiced imagination had conjured up that their amazement would have
been extreme.

The removal of the mask, by a hand of perfect whiteness and delicacy,
revealed the face of a young man of twenty-four or five years of age,
a face that, by its regularity of feature and gentle expression, had
something of the character of a woman's. One detail alone gave it or
rather would give it at certain moments a touch of singular firmness.
Beneath the beautiful fair hair waving on his brow and temples, as was
the fashion at that period, eyebrows, eyes and lashes were black as
ebony. The rest of the face was, as we have said, almost feminine. There
were two little ears of which only the tips could be seen beneath the
tufts of hair to which the Incroyables of the day had given the name of
"dog's-ears"; a straight, perfectly proportioned nose, a rather large
mouth, rosy and always smiling, and which, when smiling, revealed a
double row of brilliant teeth; a delicate refined chin faintly tinged
with blue, showing that, if the beard had not been carefully and
recently shaved, it would, protesting against the golden hair, have
followed the same color as the brows, lashes and eyes, that is to say, a
decided black. As for the unknown's figure, it was seen, when he entered
the dining-room, to be tall, well-formed and flexible, denoting, if not
great muscular strength, at least much suppleness and agility.

The manner he sat his horse showed him to be a practiced rider. With his
cloak thrown back over his shoulders, his mask hidden in the holster,
his hat pulled low over his eyes, the rider resumed his rapid pace,
checked for an instant, passed through Bedarides at a gallop, and
reaching the first houses in Orange, entered the gate of one which
closed immediately behind him. A servant in waiting sprang to the bit.
The rider dismounted quickly.

"Is your master here?" he asked the domestic.

"No, Monsieur the Baron," replied the man; "he was obliged to go away
last night, but he le