stinguish the whole outline of the building, on account of the
pestiferous vapors which arose from the moat, and hung like a pall
over the recently flooded plain. Through these mists the city chimes
sounded muffled and melancholy. It was solitude--of all solitude the
most fearful--a prison solitude in the neighborhood of a great town.
The very escort appeared to feel the influence of their melancholy
and lonely scene, for the jests stopped as the foot of the vanguard
clanged on the drawbridge. This was merely the effect of discipline;
but to Dumiger it appeared a part of the drama, and it added to his
sense of fear.

They were detained some time upon the drawbridge while the sergeant
was holding some conversation with the officer of the watch.

"By the Holy Mary!" exclaimed the functionary who had arrested
Dumiger, "there must be something more than a mere debt in all this.
I never saw such a fuss made about the receipt of the body of a debtor
in all my life. And then, it was rather strange my being ordered to
take a file of my guard instead of honest Jean, who would have held
him just as firm in his grasp, and not kept my poor fellows shivering
out all night in this unhealthy atmosphere. No, no, there is something
more than a debt due: it is a case of political crime. Is it not so,
my lad?" he exclaimed, giving Dumiger a thump on his back which made
the chain-bridge rattle.

"Is it not what?" said Dumiger, who was quite taken by surprise. He
had been gazing on the water, and the purest drops in it were the
two tears which had fallen from his eyes. "I have heard nothing," he
replied. "What does all this mean, and why am I kept here?"

"Ah, that's just what I wish to know!" answered the man, "and no one
can tell us better than yourself. It is not merely for a case of debt
that I was sent to your house to-night. No, no, I am wiser than that.
Come now, tell us the real truth. What conspiracy have you entered
into, what political offense have you committed, to entitle you to be
escorted with such honor, and be made the subject of so many forms?
There is no use denying it," he continued, for Dumiger's astonished
countenance was quite a sufficient protestation against any such
inference. "Look here; the lieutenant of the tower has been called up,
and the guard is reinforced."

It was quite true. Had Dumiger been a state prisoner of the highest
rank, he could not have been received with more ceremony. The guard
turned ou