man, but he hated still more Philip the
usurper who had brought shame to the escutcheon of Bercy. There was also
at work another and deeper design to be shown in good time. Philip had
retired from the English navy, and gone back to his duchy of Bercy.
Here he threw himself into the struggle with the Austrians against the
French. Received with enthusiasm by the people, who as yet knew little
or nothing of the doings in the Cohue Royale, he now took over command
of the army and proved himself almost as able in the field as he had
been at sea. Of these things Detricand knew, and knew also that the
lines were closing in round the duchy; that one day soon Bonaparte would
send a force which should strangle the little army and its Austrian
allies. The game then would be another step nearer the end. Free to move
at will, he visited the Courts of Prussia, Russia, Spain, Italy,
and Austria, and laid before them his claims to the duchy, urging an
insistence on its neutrality, and a trial of his cause against Philip.
Ceaselessly, adroitly, with persistence and power, he toiled towards his
end, the way made easier by tales told of his prowess in the Vendee. He
had offers without number to take service in foreign armies, but he was
not to be tempted. Gossip of the Courts said that there was some strange
romance behind this tireless pursuit of an inheritance, but he paid no
heed. If at last there crept over Europe wonderful tales of Detricand's
past life in Jersey, of the real Duchesse de Bercy, and of the new
Prince of Vaufontaine, Detricand did not, or feigned not to, hear them;
and the Comtesse Chantavoine had disappeared from public knowledge. The
few who guessed his romance were puzzled to understand his cause: for
if he dispossessed Philip, Guida must also be dispossessed. This,
certainly, was not lover-like or friendly.

But Detricand was not at all puzzled; his mind and purpose were clear.
Guida should come to no injury through him--Guida who, as they left
the Cohue Royale that day of days, had turned on him a look of heavenly
trust and gratitude; who, in the midst of her own great happenings,
found time to tell him by a word how well she knew he had kept his
promise to her, even beyond belief. Justice for her was now the supreme
and immediate object of his life. There were others ready also to care
for France, to fight for her, to die for her, to struggle towards the
hour when the King should come to his own; but there was onl