will be a crowd long before sunrise and they
may easily escape notice. Gaston will take Mademoiselle Capello to the
palace, and presenting himself boldly, ask refuge for her, which could
hardly be refused. As for himself, he may be thrown in prison, he may
be torn limb from limb; he must take his desperate chance, as the rest
of us take ours."

"He takes it cheerfully," said Gaston, at my elbow. He was grimed with
powder, and was rubbing his shoulder, which his piece had greatly
bruised, but I never saw a more smiling countenance. At the idea of
being charged with Mademoiselle Capello's safety, he looked as if he
had just come into a great estate.

Count Saxe then gave him a pocket map, and took him within to give him
a considerable sum of money. When they were gone, I heard a soft voice
behind me whispering my name, and, turning, I saw Francezka's fair
face at a lower window, near to me.

"So we have met but to part," she said, leaning out of the window, her
delicate round chin on her hand.

"We shall perhaps meet again, Mademoiselle," said I. "I think it will
not be long before you will be setting out for Paris with Madame
Riano. This, no doubt, will cure Madame Riano of traveling for the
present."

Francezka shook her head. "You do not know my aunt. As long as she can
have adventures, she is in heaven. And I like adventures, too. I have
heard of some one who said he cared not much which way the coach was
going, so it went at a rattling gait and he was inside. So do I
feel."

"If you like adventures, Mademoiselle, you will always have them," I
replied.

"Do you think," she said, after a pause, "that in taking care of me
Monsieur Cheverny is running a greater risk than any of you?"

"No, Mademoiselle. His chance seems to me rather the better. At best,
he can demand to be sent to the palace, while for us, we must run the
gantlet of the Russians; sixteen men must take their chances of
getting horses, and we must travel in company. But Count Saxe is with
us, and he is the favorite of fortune as well as of nature."

She remained silent a while, then spoke again:

"So this may be the last time we shall speak together in this world."

"I hope not, Mademoiselle," I replied. "I hope to have the honor of
speaking to you in Paris before the year is out."

"No, not Paris, but at my chateau of Capello. It is only twelve miles
from the highroad between Brussels and Paris. I would not be boastful,
but it is the charm