branded, marked, so that forever they bore that about them which sent
them back to slavery. If he bore that upon him, he was lost; the
galleys still yawned for him--yawned for him so long as Louis did not
know that the escaped _galerien_ was the son of his friend of early
days.

"I know it all, see it all," she whispered to herself. "The galley was
lost, but he was saved--saved to come back to France and ruin us. Yet
he bears that about him--must bear it, since all condemned _en
perpetuite_ are branded--which, once seen, will send him back to his
doom. Let but the _prefet_ see that, or any officer of the garrison or
citadel, and the next day he will travel again the road which he has
come; go back to Dunkirk or Havre, back to the _chiourme_ and the oar.
They will listen to nothing, hear no word or protest, grant no trial.
He is mine--mine!" and again she went to the cabinet and drank. "Even
though he has found proof of who he is, they will not listen to nor
believe him."

One fear only disturbed her frenzy now. That he was the man who had
called her "wanton," the man who stood between her lover and his
wealth, and consequently between her and that lover, she never
doubted. Those features, seen first by the lamp in the parlour of the
inn--seen, too, when apparently he lay dying from her murderous
stab--were too deeply stamped into her memory to ever be forgotten.
And as he lay there, looking like death, so he had looked as he lay in
the dust outside Rambouillet. He was the man!--and this was her fear!
But was it certain that the galley mark was branded into him, the mark
which proclaimed him as one doomed to those galleys forever, that
would send him back without appeal, and would make all in authority
whom he might endeavour to address turn a deaf ear to him?

She must know that, and at once. She could not rest until she knew
that upon his shoulder was the damning evidence.

All was quiet in the house, it was near midnight, the domestics were
in their beds by now: she resolved that she would satisfy herself at
once. Then, if the brand was there, as it must be, she could arrange
her next steps--could send for the commandant of the _chateau_,
deliver the man into his hands, be not even seen by him. If it was
there!

Leaving her room, she crept to the one to which he had been carried,
and, pushing open the door, looked in. The waiting maid, who had
received orders not to quit him under any pretext, was sleeping
he