, my last hope,
the protector of my child--"

"I will not go," said I, in a hollow whisper.

Already they were at the door; I heard their voices as they challenged the
sentry; I heard his musket as he raised it to his shoulder. The thought
flashed across me. I jumped up, and throwing the loose mantle of the French
dragoon around him, and replacing his own with the foraging cap of St.
Croix, I sprang into a corner of the room, and seating myself so as to
conceal my face, waited the result. The door opened, the party entered
laughing and talking together.

"Come, Eugene," said one, taking Sir George by the arm, "you have spent
long enough time here to learn the English language. We shall be late at
the outpost. Messieurs les Anglais, good-night, good-night!"

This was repeated by the others as they passed out with Sir George Dashwood
among them, who, seeing that my determination was not to be shaken, and
that any demur on his part must necessarily compromise both, yielded to a
_coup-de-main_ what he never would have consented to from an appeal to his
reason. The door closed; their steps died away in the distance. Again a
faint sound struck my ear; it was the challenge of the sentry beneath,
and I heard the tramp of horses' feet. All was still, and in a burst of
heart-felt gratitude I sank upon my knees, and thanked God that he was
safe.

So soundly did I sleep, that not before I was shaken several times by the
shoulder could I awake on the following morning.

"I thought there were two prisoners here," said a gruff voice, as an old
mustached-looking veteran cast a searching look about the room. "However,
we shall have enough of them before sunset. Get--get up; Monsieur le Duc de
Dalmatie desires some information you can give him."

As he said this, he led me from the room; and descending the flight of
stone steps, we entered the courtyard. It was but four o'clock, the rain,
still falling in torrents, yet every one was up and stirring.

"Mount this horse," said my gruff friend, "and come with me towards the
left; the marshal has already gone forward."

The heavy mist of the morning, darkened by the lowering clouds which almost
rested on the earth, prevented our seeing above a hundred yards before
us; but the hazy light of the watch-fires showed me extent of the French
position, as it stretched away along the ridge towards the Halle road. We
rode forward at a trot, but in the deep clayey soil we sank at each moment