ecious burden closer to my heart, I ran
quickly down the street.

Within the next few seconds I had the seemingly inanimate maiden
safely deposited in the inside of the barouche and myself sitting by
her side. The driver cracked his whip, and whilst I, happy but
exhausted, was mopping my streaming forehead the chaise rattled gaily
along the uneven pavements of the great city in the direction of
Suresnes.

What that fool Rochez was doing I could not definitely ascertain. I
looked through the vasistas of the coach, but could see nothing in
pursuit of us. Then I turned my full attention to my lovely companion.
It was pitch dark inside the carriage, you understand; only from time
to time, as we drove past an overhanging street lanthorn, I caught a
glimpse of that priceless bundle beside me, which lay there so still
and so snug, still wrapped up in the shawl.

With cautious, loving fingers I undid its folds. Under cover of the
darkness the sweet and modest creature, released of her bonds, turned
for an instant to me, and for a few, very few, happy seconds I held
her in my arms.

"Have no fear, fair one," I murmured in her ear. "It is I, Hector
Ratichon, who adores you and who cannot live without you! Forgive me
for this seeming violence, which was prompted by an undying passion,
and remember that to me you are as sacred as a divinity until the
happy hour when I can proclaim you to the world as my beloved wife!"

I pressed her against my heart, and my lips imprinted a delicate kiss
upon her forehead. After which, with chaste decorum, she once more
turned away from me, covered her face and head with the shawl, and
drew back into the remote corner of the carriage, where she remained,
silent and absorbed, no doubt, in the contemplation of her happiness.

I respected her silence, and I, too, fell to meditating upon my good
fortune. Here was I, Sir, within sight of a haven wherein I could live
through the twilight of my days in comfort and in peace, a beautiful
young wife, a modest fortune! I had never in my wildest dreams
envisaged a Fate more fair. The little house at Chantilly which I
coveted, the plot of garden, the espalier peaches--all, all would be
mine now! It seemed indeed too good to be true!

The very next moment I was rudely awakened from those golden dreams by
a loud clatter, and stern voices shouting the ominous word, "Halt!"
The carriage drew up with such a jerk that I was flung off my seat
against the fron