to M. le Comte, then to the coachman
and postillions, and ordering Jeanne to help her, she succeeded in
freeing the men from their bonds.

Then calling to one of them to precede her with a lanthorn, she started
on the quest for Maurice de St. Genis. He was found--as that abominable
thief had said--some two hundred yards up the road, very securely bound
and with his own handkerchief tied round his mouth, but otherwise
comfortably laid on a dry bit of roadside grass.

Mme. la Duchesse would not reply to his questions, but after he was
released and able to stand up she made him give her a brief account of
his adventure. It had all been so sudden and so quick--he had fallen
back a little behind the carriage as soon as the night had set in, as he
thought it safer to keep along the edge of the road. He was feeling
tired and drowsy, and allowing his horse to amble along in the slow
jog-trot peculiar to its race. No doubt his attention had for some time
been on the wander, when, all at once, in the darkness someone seized
hold of his horse by the bridle and forced it back upon its haunches.
The next moment Maurice felt himself grabbed by the leg, and dragged off
his horse: he shouted for help, but the carriage was on ahead and its
own rattle prevented the shouts from being heard. After which he was
bound and gagged and summarily left to lie by the roadside. He had had
no chance against the ruffians, as they were numerous, but they did not
attempt to ill-use him in any way.

Slowly hobbling towards the carriage beside Mme. la Duchesse, for he was
cramped and stiff, Maurice told her all there was to tell. He had heard
the distant scuffle, the shouts and calls, also one pistol-shot at the
end, but he had been rendered helpless even before the carriage had come
to a halt in the ditch.

It was M. le Comte who in his accustomed measured tones now gave Maurice
de St. Genis the details of this awful adventure: the ransacking of the
carriage by the mysterious miscreant--the loss of the twenty-five
millions, the complete shattering of all hope to help the King with this
money in the hour of his need, and finally Crystal's desperate act of
revenge, as she shot the pistol off into the darkness, hoping at least
to disable the impudent rogue who had done them and the King such a
fatal injury.

St. Genis listened to it all with lips held tightly pressed together,
firm determination causing every muscle in his body to grow taut and
firm