u on putting a good face on it,
and hiding your disappointment."

"What nonsense you talk!" Desmond said, laughing. "It is you who
have been building castles, not I, and it is your disappointment
that they have fallen to pieces."

Chapter 6: An Ambuscade.

On the morning arranged, the cavalcade started from Versailles.
The baron had instructed the stable keeper, where the carriage and
horses had been placed, to notify the Vicomte de Tulle that he
held them at his disposal. The woman, who had been brought to
Versailles, had been dismissed, after having made before a
magistrate a deposition, stating how Mademoiselle de Pointdexter
had been held a close prisoner, and that, with the exception of
herself, no one whatever had entered her apartment, except that
the Vicomte de Tulle had paid her a visit, of some five minutes'
duration, on the morning after she was brought there. A copy of
this was left in the magistrate's hands for safekeeping, while the
original was kept by the baron, who regarded it as a most
important document, concerning, as it did, the honour of his
daughter.

Anne had travelled to Paris in the family coach, and she again,
with her maid, took her place in it. The baron, Monsieur de la
Vallee, and Desmond rode on horseback behind it, two armed
retainers rode in front, and two others, with Mike, took their
places behind. The old servitor sat on the front seat, by the side
of the coachman.

"I do not think, Desmond," Philip de la Vallee said, as the baron
fell back to talk for a while with his daughter, "that he has the
slightest thought of our being attacked by any of the agents of
the vicomte; but I have made a good many enquiries about the
fellow, in the past few days, and from what I have heard I am
still more convinced that, before long, he is likely to renew his
attempt to get possession of Anne. I hear that his circumstances
are well-nigh desperate. He has mortgaged the income of his
estates, which, of course, he is unable to sell, as they go with
the title to the heir. He is pressed by many creditors, who, now
that he has lost the favour of the king, will give him no further
grace. Indeed, I understand that the king, who is always liberal,
and who not infrequently makes considerable gifts to the gentlemen
of the court, to enable them to support the necessary expenses,
has already assisted him several times, and that it was only by
such aid that he has been able to hold on as long as he