Festiniog."

"But, good God! is it possible that you can wish to disturb the
remains of a gallant officer and a legitimate descendant of the
Montmorencies? Why, Sir, the most savage islanders of the South
Seas,--cannibals even, anthropophagi, and 'men whose heads do grow
beneath their shoulders,'--respect the rights of the dead. The son of
Capt. le Harnois is in the company: will not his word of honor, the
word of a Montmorency, be a sufficient guarantee for us? The bare name
of a Montmorency, the first French family that ever received baptism,
ought to be a passport through Christendom."

"It is a name," replied the officer, "that will pass no turnpike gate
in Merionethshire. And to cut the matter short, not a carriage shall
pass this gate till we have searched it."

"But if you disregard the name of Montmorency, will you show no honor
to the Lilies of France? The deceased Captain mounted the flag of his
Most Christian Majesty. Are you not afraid of causing a rupture between
the courts of St. James and St. Cloud?"

The officer smiled, and said he hoped it would not come to _that_.

"Perhaps not: but what will prevent it? Why this, my friend: that you
will yourself be made the sacrifice. It is notorious that the English
treasury are just now shy of war: something however must be thought of
to appease the wounded honor of France; Lord Londonderry will send down
a mantrap: some dark night you will be kidnapped: and your head will be
sent in a charger to the Thuilleries."

A burst of laughter followed, in which Bertram was surprized to
perceive that many of his own party joined as heartily as the other.
Some however, of a weather-beaten sea-faring appearance, listened with
manifest impatience to this conference; and one of them, as spokesman
for the rest, cried out--

"My eyes! what's the good of all this jaw? Get out of my Way, master
Harlequin, and go aft: noble Captain, shall us lay 'em aboard?" So
saying he turned his eye upon a young man near the hearse who had been
pointed out to Bertram as young le Harnois and chief mourner. His hat
was slouched over his eyes, and his side face only presented to
Bertram,--who in this however fancied again that he saw enough to
recognize the stranger who had so much impressed him in the gallery of
the inn. But he had little time for examination: in a moment after the
young man whispered to a person who stood on his right and to another
on his left: these retired a little to