with the earnestness of his resolve.

When M. le Comte had finished speaking, and with a sigh of
discouragement had suggested an immediate continuation of his journey,
Maurice said resolutely:

"Do you go on straightway to Lyons with the ladies, my dear Comte, but I
shall not leave this neighbourhood till by some means or other I find
those miscreants and lay their infamous leader by the heel."

"Well spoken, Maurice," said the Comte guardedly, "but how will you do
it?--it is late and the night darker than ever."

"You must spare me one of your horses, my dear Comte," replied the young
man, "as mine apparently has been stolen by those abominable thieves,
and I'll ride back to the nearest village--you remember we passed it not
half an hour ago. I'll get lodgings there and get some information. In
the meanwhile perhaps you will see M. le Comte d'Artois immediately,
tell him all that has happened and beg him to send me as early in the
morning as possible a dozen cavalrymen or so, to help me scour the
country. I'll be on the look-out for them on this road by six o'clock,
and, please God! the day shall not go by before we have those infamous
marauders by the heels. Twenty-five millions, remember, are not dragged
about open country quite so easily as those thieves imagine. They are
bound to leave some trace of their whereabouts sometimes."

He appeared so confident and so cheerful that some of his optimism
infected M. le Comte too. The latter promised to get an audience of M.
le Comte d'Artois that very evening, and of course the necessary cavalry
patrol would at once be forthcoming.

"God grant you success, Maurice," he added fervently, and the young
man's energy and enthusiasm were also rewarded by a warm, glowing look
from Crystal.

A quarter of an hour afterwards, M. le Comte's travelling coach was once
more ready for departure. Pierre had been given his orders to make due
haste for Lyons, and to drive a unicorn team of three horses instead of
a regulation four, whereupon he had muttered a string of oaths which
would have caused a Paris wine-shop loafer to blush.

One of the horses thereupon was detached from the team for Maurice's use
and made ready with one of the postillions' saddles; the other
postillion had to climb up to the seat next to the coachman: all three
men were feeling not a little shamed at the sorry role which they had
just played, and they vowed revenge against the mysterious thieves who
had sp