because I have resolved to go; and when once I have
taken a resolution no power on earth can make me change it. Now kiss me
and don't be frightened, and I will tell you a secret."

Amelie raised her head, and gazed questioningly, despairingly, at
Roland.

"I have known for more than a year," replied the young man, "that I have
the misfortune not to be able to die. So reassure yourself, and don't be
afraid."

Roland uttered these words so dolefully that Amelie, who had, until
then, kept her emotion under control, left the room sobbing.

The young officer, after assuring himself that her door was closed, shut
his, murmuring: "We'll see who will weary first, Fate or I."

CHAPTER XVI. THE GHOST

The next evening, at about the same hour, the young officer, after
convincing himself that every one in the Chateau des Noires-Fontaines
had gone to bed, opened his door softly, went downstairs holding his
breath, reached the vestibule, slid back the bolts of the outer door
noiselessly, and turned round to make sure that all was quiet. Reassured
by the darkened windows, he boldly opened the iron gate. The hinges
had probably been oiled that day, for they turned without grating,
and closed as noiselessly as they had opened behind Roland, who walked
rapidly in the direction of Pont d'Ain at Bourg.

He had hardly gone a hundred yards before the clock at Saint-Just struck
once; that of Montagnac answered like a bronze echo. It was half-past
ten o'clock. At the pace the young man was walking he needed only twenty
minutes to reach the Chartreuse; especially if, instead of skirting the
woods, he took the path that led direct to the monastery. Roland was
too familiar from youth with every nook of the forest of Seillon
to needlessly lengthen his walk ten minutes. He therefore turned
unhesitatingly into the forest, coming out on the other side in about
five minutes. Once there, he had only to cross a bit of open ground to
reach the orchard wall of the convent. This took barely another five
minutes.

At the foot of the wall he stopped, but only for a few seconds. He
unhooked his cloak, rolled it into a ball, and tossed it over the wall.
The cloak off, he stood in a velvet coat, white leather breeches, and
top-boots. The coat was fastened round the waist by a belt in which were
a pair of pistols. A broad-brimmed hat covered his head and shaded his
face.

With the same rapidity with which he had removed his garment that might
h