t account. Hearing from Querto--who was connected with the
family--that Elliot was unquestionably a married man, he had only done
his duty in warning Rose and her sister against the groom of the
chamber. He would not admit to himself that jealousy had influenced him
in so doing. As Lempriere's agent, as the old friend of the family, he
could not have done otherwise. All was over between him and Marguerite,
yet he could not forget that, by the wish of the young lady's friends,
if not by her own, he had once been her affianced husband. As for the
death of the courtier, it was not in itself a subject for much regret;
and, further, it had been wholly the consequence of the dead man's own
actions, from his deceit towards the ladies to his final ferocity and
foul play in an encounter of his own provoking.

While Alain Le Gallais thus sought comfort by the road of reason and of
conscience, his heart continued very sore. But on the morrow of his
commitment an event occurred which changed his cheer, and made his
prison for an instant more lovely than a palace. All the Jerseymen were
acquainted with each other, and the prison warder, though fully meaning
to keep his captive, did not by any means understand his duty to extend
to making such detention a punishment to a man whom he liked, and who
had not yet been condemned. So when Mme. de Maufant and her sister
presented themselves at the gate, seeking admission to Alain's cell, the
worthy jailor unhesitatingly showed them into his own parlour, and
fetched Alain to them, only taking the precaution of turning the door
key upon the outside as he left them alone with the priser, on the
understanding that they should call him from the window when they wished
to leave.

Pale as death, her lovely eyes ringed with dark shades, poor Marguerite
fell upon Alain's breast, without pretence of coyness.

"Alain, mon ami!" she cooed in her soft rich voice, "can you give me
your pardon?"

How far Alain believed this sudden revelation cannot certainly be told.
All that he felt able to do was to strain the girl to his heart and be
silent. Rose stood discreetly at the window; but finding that the lovers
had no more to say to each other, she by and by broke silence.

"We shall not leave you to suffer for us," she said. "Carteret is
without scruple and without mercy. As a friend of Michael's, he will
seek every loophole for your ruin. I have already seen the Advocate
Falle. He says that you will b