l my uncles had rallied me very much on what they called
my virtue; they had treated my shyness in the presence of women as a
sign of continence; and it was especially in this matter that they urged
me to evil by ridiculing my modesty. While parrying these coarse gibes
and making thrusts in the same strain, I had been drinking enormously.
Consequently, my wild imagination had become inflamed, and I boasted
that I would be bolder and more successful with the first woman brought
to Roche-Mauprat than any of my uncles. The challenge was accepted amid
roars of laughter. Peals of thunder sent back an answer to the infernal
merriment.

All at once the horn was heard at the portcullis. Everybody stopped
talking. The blast just blown was the signal used by the Mauprats to
summon each other or make themselves known. It was my Uncle Laurence,
who had been absent all day and who was now asking to be let in. We had
so little confidence in others that we acted as our own turnkeys in the
fortress. John rose and took down the keys, but he stopped immediately
on hearing a second blast of the horn. This meant that Laurence was
bringing in a prize, and that we were to go and meet him. In the
twinkling of an eye all the Mauprats were at the portcullis, torch in
hand--except myself, whose indifference at this moment was profound, and
whose legs were seriously conscious of wine.

"If it is a woman," cried Antony as he went out, "I swear by the soul of
my father that she shall be handed over to you, my valiant young man,
and we'll see if your courage comes up to your conceit."

I remained with my elbows on the table, sunk in an uncomfortable stupor.

When the door opened again I saw a woman in a strange costume entering
with a confident step. It required an effort to keep my mind from
wandering, and to grasp what one of the Mauprats came and whispered to
me. In the middle of a wolf-hunt, at which several of the nobles in the
neighbourhood had been present with their wives, this young lady's horse
had taken fright and bolted away from the rest of the field. When it had
pulled up after a gallop of about a league, she had tried to find her
way back; but, not knowing the Varenne district, where all the landmarks
are so much alike, she had gone farther and farther astray. The
storm and the advent of night had completed her perplexity. Laurence,
happening to meet her, had offered to escort her to the chateau of
Rochemaure, which, as a fact, was