dismounted.

"Are you prophet or disciple?" asked Morgan.

"Disciple," replied the new-comer.

"Where is your master?"

"You will find him at the Chartreuse of Seillon."

"Do you know how many Companions are there this evening?"

"Twelve."

"Very good; if you meet any others send them there."

He who had called himself a disciple bowed in sign of obedience,
assisted Morgan to fasten the valise to the croup of the saddle, and
respectfully held the bit while the young man mounted. Without even
waiting to thrust his other foot into the stirrup, Morgan spurred his
horse, which tore the bit from the groom's hand and started off at a
gallop.

On the right of the road stretched the forest of Seillon, like a shadowy
sea, its sombre billows undulating and moaning in the night wind. Half
a mile beyond Sue the rider turned his horse across country toward the
forest, which, as he rode on, seemed to advance toward him. The horse,
guided by an experienced hand, plunged fearlessly into the woods. Ten
minutes later he emerged on the other side.

A gloomy mass, isolated in the middle of a plain, rose about a hundred
feet from the forest. It was a building of massive architecture, shaded
by five or six venerable trees. The horseman paused before the portal,
over which were placed three statues in a triangle of the Virgin, our
Lord, and St. John the Baptist. The statue of the Virgin was at the apex
of the triangle.

The mysterious traveller had reached his goal, for this was the
Chartreuse of Seillon. This monastery, the twenty-second of its order,
was founded in 1178. In 1672 a modern edifice had been substituted for
the old building; vestiges of its ruins can be seen to this day. These
ruins consist externally of the above-mentioned portal with the three
statues, before which our mysterious traveller halted; internally, a
small chapel, entered from the right through the portal. A peasant, his
wife and two children are now living there, and the ancient monastery
has become a farm.

The monks were expelled from their convent in 1791; in 1792 the
Chartreuse and its dependencies were offered for sale as ecclesiastical
property. The dependencies consisted first of the park, adjoining the
buildings, and the noble forest which still bears the name of Seillon.
But at Bourg, a royalist and, above all, religious town, no one dared
risk his soul by purchasing property belonging to the worthy monks whom
all revered. The result was