as the first
face that showed anxiety, and that, when I saw her buying salve at
the apothecary's, I felt sure that it was she who was sheltering
the count."

"And have you arranged anything, Pierre?" Philip asked anxiously.

"Only this much, sir, that tomorrow evening, as soon as it is dark,
she will leave the palace with Monsieur Francois. That will give us
plenty of time to make our plans, which will be easy enough. We
have but to take an apartment, and bring him up into it. No one
need know that there are more than ourselves there, and we can
nurse him for a few days, until he is fit to ride.

"Then we have only to get him a disguise like that in which we
entered. We can hide him in the wood, go on to where we hid our
clothes, put them on instead of our disguises, enter Saint Cloud,
go on to Versailles, fetch the three horses, and return to
him--with, of course, a suit of clothes for himself."

There was no difficulty in hiring two rooms in a quiet street.
Suits of clothes suitable for a court lackey were purchased, and
these were given by Pierre to the girl, when she came out in the
afternoon. Philip had accompanied Pierre to meet her.

"My good girl," he said, "I cannot tell you how deeply I feel the
kindness that you have shown my cousin. You have risked your life to
save him; and that, I am sure, without the smallest thought of reward.
Still, so good an action must not pass without acknowledgment, though
no money can express the amount of our gratitude to you."

"I do not want to be paid, sir," she said. "I had no thought of
money."

"I know that," Philip replied; "but you must allow us to show our
gratitude, in the only way we can. In the first place, what is your
name?"

"Annette Riolt, sir."

"Well, Annette, here are fifty crowns in this purse. It is all that
I can spare, at present; but be assured the Countess de Laville
will send you, at the first opportunity, a sum that will be a good
dot for you, when you find a husband. If the messenger by whom it
is sent asks for you by your name, at the door of the palace by
which you usually leave it, will he obtain access to you?"

"Yes, sir. The porter at the door knows me; and if he should be
changed, whoever is there will inquire of the maids, if he asks for
Annette Riolt, one of the chamber women in the north wing of the
palace."

"Very well, Annette. You may rely that a messenger will come. I
cannot say how soon; that must depend on other circumst