hink, sir, that it would be best that you should start at
once, in the carriage, for Pointdexter. Monsieur Philip's
intendant and his men will ride as your escort, but I do not think
that there is the slightest probability of your being interfered
with; for now that the vicomte is dead, these men--who were not, I
think, his retainers, but a band of robbers whom he had hired for
the occasion--will have no further motive for attacking you.

"I myself shall return to Aubusson, send back the horse on which I
rode there, hire another, and make straight for Moulins, where I
still hope that I may find Monsieur de la Vallee alive.

"Did you see the vicomte, after you were attacked?"

"No. I heard one of the men tell the fellows who were guarding us
that your stroke had cut off one of his ears, and laid his cheek
bare from the eye to the chin. I fancy that he was too badly hurt
to come to us, but in any case he would not have cared to show
himself, in so terrible a plight."

"We must admit that, with all his faults, he was brave," Desmond
said; "for, in spite of his pain and weakness, and of the fact
that his head was enveloped in bandages, he sprang from his
litter, leapt into one of the saddles we had emptied, and, single
handed, made for me, until my man cut his career short with a
bullet.

"As you go through Croc, it might be well that you should send one
of the villagers off to his castle, to tell them that their master
is lying dead here, when doubtless they will send out a party to
fetch in his body."

By this time, Mademoiselle de Pointdexter had recovered from her
faint. She held out her hand to Desmond, as he stood bareheaded
beside the door.

"You have rescued me again, Monsieur Kennedy," she said; "for,
though life seems worthless to me now, you have saved me from far
worse than death. That you have so saved me, for my father's sake
as well as my own, I thank you with all my heart."

"I would have you still hope, mademoiselle. We know that Monsieur
de la Vallee fell, but many men fall from their horses when
wounded, even when the wound is not vital. I am riding at once to
Moulins, and trust to find him still alive. Therefore, I pray you
do not give up all hope."

"I dare not let myself hope," she said. "It would be but to suffer
another blow. Still, I feel that I have so much to be thankful for
that, grievous as my sorrow is, I shall try to bear it, with the
help of the Holy Virgin."

The party now sep