of nobility, one of the De
Mortemarts, testified by his actions that night that the French good
breeding of the great monarch's day was no mere outward show. He
permitted his prisoner to still retain his sword, and he walked by his
side instead of ahead of his men, because he did not desire that those
whom in his mind he considered the _canaille_ should make any
observations upon that prisoner as they passed through the streets.
Moreover, wherever a knot of persons were gathered together in any
corner he affected a smiling exterior, so that they should be induced
to suppose that St. Georges was an ordinary acquaintance accompanying
him.

"Sir," said the latter, observing all this, "you are very good to me.
You make what I have to bear as light as possible."

"It is nothing, nothing," the lieutenant replied. "I only wish it had
not fallen to my lot to undertake so unpleasant a duty. By the way, I
suppose it is true, as she told the commandant! You have,
unfortunately known--been--at the galleys?"

"It is true."

"_Tiens!_ A pity. A thousand pities! Above all, that you should have
encountered that she-devil. Well, I am glad you had those hard words
with her. _Ma foi!_ she is a tigress! I only hope you may escape
from--from other things--as you did from her dagger."

The commandant--who was also the colonel of the Regiment de
Grance--was, however, a different style of man from his lieutenant--a
man who from long service in the army had become rough and harsh;
also, like many men commanding regiments under Louis, he had risen
solely by his military qualifications, and owed nothing to birth or
influence.

He listened, however, very attentively to all De Mortemart told him of
the scene that had taken place, and especially as to how the Baronne
de Louvigny--to whom he himself was paying court, as has been
told--had evidently had some lover whose existence he had never
suspected; and then he sent for St. Georges, who was brought into his
presence by De Mortemart himself.

"So," he said, "you are an escaped _galerien_, monsieur. Well! You
know what happens to them when retaken!"

"I know."

"What was your crime?"

"Nothing--except serving the king as a soldier."

"As a soldier!" he and De Mortemart exclaimed together, while the
former continued, "In what capacity?"

"As lieutenant in the Chevaux-Legers of Nivernois."

"_Mon Dieu!_" exclaimed the commandant. "A picked regiment, and
commanded by De Beauvilliers