--"

"I hate all dukes," interrupted the other, "and all the _noblesse_.
They grind the poor."

"Yet he seemed kind. He would have saved that one, I do believe, if he
could. And how he spoke to the judge--as he himself speaks to
others--like to a dog! And his companion, the officer of Mousquetaires
who does not follow the troop. _Mon Dieu! il est beau aussi._ How many
handsome men we see to-day!"

"_Ah! voyons_," exclaimed the other, grimacing irritably, "_les beaux!
les beaux_! Nothing but _les beaux_! Some day, Babette, you will
regret your admiration of the men."

"He looks pale and troubled, does that mousquetaire," the girl
replied, taking no heed of the elder woman's reproofs; and then they
passed on to the foul quarter of Paris where they dwelt, and where
dukes' sons and handsome mousquetaires did not often obtrude
themselves.

Had she been able to overhear the commencement of the conversation
between De Mortemart and that officer of Mousquetaires she would
probably not have wondered at the pallor which overspread the latter's
face, nor at his look of trouble.

When the young fellow had fled out of the court, unable to remain and
hear that doom pronounced on St. Georges, which he knew must come, he
had gone straight to the guardroom with the intention of removing the
three men of his troop whom he had brought with him to Paris in charge
of their prisoner. Their work was done in Paris, he knew; it was best
they should take the road hack to Rambouillet at once. It was but
eight leagues, and the summer nights were long; they could ride that
easily and regain their quarters almost without halting.

But as he entered the room set apart for officers preparatory to
summoning his men, he saw that which prevented him from doing so for
some little time longer. He saw, seated in a deep wooden chair, his
wig off, and fast asleep in that chair--with a flask of wine by his
side--an officer of the guard for the day, whose face he knew very
well indeed. The Regiment de Grance was not always quartered at such
dead-and-alive places as Rambouillet; it was sometimes accorded the
privilege of being in attendance on the court itself--since it was
officered from the aristocrats as a rule, the colonel generally being
an exception, and selected because of his services--and at Versailles
it had, not long ago, been thrown in with the Mousquetaires Noirs.

"_Tiens_, Boussac!" the young fellow cried, slapping the sleeping
officer