od eye--for he was blind of the other. In the course
of seven years, that is, from 1816 to 1823, neither wife nor husband
had betrayed what went on nightly at their house, or who they were that
shared in the plot; they felt the liveliest regard for the Knights;
their devotion was absolute. But this may seem less creditable if we
remember that self-interest was the security of their affection and
their silence. No matter at what hour of the night the Knights dropped
in upon the tavern, the moment they knocked in a certain way Pere
Cognet, recognizing the signal, got up, lit the fire and the candles,
opened the door, and went to the cellar for a particular wine that was
laid in expressly for the Order; while La Cognette cooked an excellent
supper, eaten either before or after the expeditions, which were usually
planned the previous evening or in the course of the preceding day.

CHAPTER VIII

While Joseph and Madame Bridau were journeying from Orleans to Issoudun,
the Knights of Idleness perpetrated one of their best tricks. An old
Spaniard, a former prisoner of war, who after the peace had remained in
the neighborhood, where he did a small business in grain, came early one
morning to market, leaving his empty cart at the foot of the tower of
Issoudun. Maxence, who arrived at a rendezvous of the Knights, appointed
on that occasion at the foot of the tower, was soon assailed with the
whispered question, "What are we to do to-night?"

"Here's Pere Fario's cart," he answered. "I nearly cracked my shins over
it. Let us get it up on the embankment of the tower in the first place,
and we'll make up our minds afterwards."

When Richard Coeur-de-Lion built the tower of Issoudun he raised it, as
we have said, on the ruins of the basilica, which itself stood above the
Roman temple and the Celtic Dun. These ruins, each of which represents
a period of several centuries, form a mound big with the monuments of
three distinct ages. The tower is, therefore, the apex of a cone, from
which the descent is equally steep on all sides, and which is only
approached by a series of steps. To give in a few words an idea of the
height of this tower, we may compare it to the obelisk of Luxor on its
pedestal. The pedestal of the tower of Issoudun, which hid within its
breast such archaeological treasures, was eighty feet high on the side
towards the town. In an hour the cart was taken off its wheels and
hoisted, piece by piece, to the top of