s some slight
exclamation from the bed assured her that mademoiselle was not yet
asleep. As these pauses always took place when she was near the wall
behind which I crouched, I frequently heard her breath, which came
heavily, and once the rustle of her gown. But I did not stir. As long as
her uneasy form flitted about the room, I clung to the partition,
listening, determined that nothing should move me--not even my own
terrors. And though night presently merged into midnight, and the
silence and horror of the spot became frightful, I kept my post, for the
stealthy tread continued, and so did the desultory scraps of
conversation, which proved that, if the mother was waiting for the
daughter to sleep, the daughter was equally waiting for the mother to
retire. And so daylight came, and with it exhaustion to more than one of
us three watchers.

And this is the record of the first night spent by me in the secret
chamber.

CHAPTER XXII.

A SURPRISE FOR HONORA.

OCTOBER 22, 1791.

[Illustration: E]

Events crowd. This morning the one girl I have taken into my confidence
came to my room with a strange tale. A stranger had arrived, an elegant
young gentleman of foreign appearance, who had not yet given his name,
but who must be a person of importance, if bearing and address go for
anything. He came on horseback, attended by his valet, and his first
word, after some directions in regard to his horse, was a request to see
the landlady. When told she was ill, he asked for the clerk, and to him
was about to put some question, when an exclamation from the doorway
interrupted them. Turning, they saw madame standing there, her face
petrified into an expression of terrified surprise.

"Mrs.--"

"Hush!" sprang from the lady's lips before he could finish his
exclamation; and advancing, she laid her hand on his arm, saying, in
French, which, by the way, my clerk understands: "If you hope anything
from us, do not speak the name that is faltering on your tongue. For
reasons of our own, for reasons of a purely domestic nature, we are
traveling incognito. Let me ask you as a gentleman to humor our whim,
and to know us at present as Madame and Mademoiselle Letellier."

He bowed, but flushed with embarrassment.

"And mademoiselle? She is well, I trust?"

"Quite well."

"And yourself?"

"Quite well, also. May I ask what has brought you into these parts,
whom we thought in another and somewhat distant country?"

"Need