"It is not such a trifle as you think, Kennedy. Lettres de cachet
are not difficult to obtain, by powerful members of the court;
especially when the person named is a young regimental officer,
whose disappearance would excite no comment or curiosity, save
among the officers of his own regiment. The man who carried off
Mademoiselle Pointdexter must be a bold fellow, and is likely to
be a vindictive one. No doubt, his object was to keep the young
lady a prisoner, until she agreed to marry him, and the loss of a
pretty bride with a splendid fortune is no trifling one, and
likely to be bitterly resented. Whether that resentment will take
the form of obtaining an order for your confinement in the
Bastille, or other royal prison, or of getting you put out of the
way by a stab in the back, I am unable to say, but in any case, I
should advise you strongly to give up your fancy for wandering
about after dark; and when you do go out, keep in the frequented
portions of the town.

"Jack Farquharson, who was at Versailles with the colonel last
week, was speaking of Mademoiselle Pointdexter, and said that she
was charming. Did you find her so?"

"I thought nothing about it, one way or the other," Desmond said,
carelessly. "I only saw her face by torchlight, and she was, of
course, agitated by what had happened; and indeed, as I was busy
helping Mike to yoke the horses to the carriage, I had scarcely
time to look at her. When we reached Versailles it was barely
daylight. I handed her out of the carriage, and left her to enter
by herself, as I thought it was better that she should meet her
father alone. I do not think that I should recognize her, were I
to meet her in the street."

"Most insensible youth!" O'Sullivan said, with a laugh;
"insensible and discreet to a point that, were it not assured,
none would believe that you had Irish blood in your veins. And so,
you say you are going over to Versailles tomorrow?"

"Yes. I left a message with the servant who opened the door, to
that effect. Of course, I shall be glad to know if the baron
intends to take any steps against his daughter's abductor, or
whether he thinks it best not to add to the scandal by stirring up
matters, but to take her away at once to his estates."

"He is in a difficult position," O'Neil said gravely. "The young
lady has been missing for a fortnight. No one knows whether she
went of her own free will, or against it. Were her father to carry
her off, qu