arsh and peremptory tone.

Captain Daniel made a last reverence, and, retreating slowly to the
staircase, he disappeared.

"To see these merchants! To hear them one would think there were no
interests in the world but those of their cargoes," said De Chemerant.

"There are, however, very few circumstances in which one refuses an
escort," said the governor, with an air of astonishment.

"There are very few, indeed, baron, but there are some," said Chemerant
brusquely, while withdrawing.

Croustillac had been conducted to the finest apartment in the house.
When he awoke night had fallen, and the moon shone with so brilliant a
light that it illuminated his chamber perfectly.

Croustillac looked out of his window; the two sentinels paced peacefully
at the foot of the wall.

"The devil!" said the adventurer. "It is decidedly impossible to make my
escape on this side; there are at least twenty feet to descend just to
fall on the backs of these sentinels, and they would find this manner of
quitting the governor's house very singular. Let us look at the other
side, then."

Croustillac approached the door with a light step; but a bright light
thrown on the floor showed him that the neighboring room was lighted and
probably occupied.

By the aid of a tinder-box which he found on the mantel, he lighted a
candle, and dressed himself in his old clothes, with a melancholy
satisfaction. They exhaled the strong and aromatic odor of the plants
and herbs of the surroundings through which Croustillac had so long
walked in his wanderings in the forest around Devil's Cliff.

"Zounds! Chance is devilishly well named Chance," said the Gascon to
himself. "It has always had a particular affection for me. If it was
canonized, I would make it my patron saint. Chance--Polypheme, Sire de
Croustillac! When, on board the Unicorn, I made a bet that I would marry
Blue Beard, who could have foreseen that this foolish wager was almost
won; for, after all, in the eyes of the man with the dagger and of De
Chemerant, I passed, I still pass, as the husband of the lady of Devil's
Cliff. How all things hang together in fate! When I quitted the
parsonage of Father Griffen, nose in air, shoulders squared, my switch
in my hand to drive away the serpents, who the devil would have said
that I left to go, not directly it is true, to incite the Cornwallers to
revolt in favor of King James and Louis XIV! Zounds! One may well say
that the ways of Providence