t?"
Eagerly I ran my eyes over it, De Lorgnac bending over my shoulder and
reading with me. It was correct in every particular, signed by the
King, and sealed by Bertrandi. As I folded the pardon up, with an
inward prayer of thanks to God, La Valentinois asked again:

"It is correct, is it not?"

"Perfectly, madame."

"Now for your, or rather the Queen's share, of this business. Give me
my letters!"

I looked her straight in the face. "Pardon me, madame, Mademoiselle de
Paradis is not yet free----"

"What do you mean? You quibble with words, monsieur." Her lips were
trembling, and her hands clenched; but, bowing coldly, I said:

"No, madame, I do not quibble with words. Your letters are in Paris,
and will be given to you only when Mademoiselle de Paradis is placed,
unharmed and free, in her Majesty's hands. That is the bargain, as you
call it, and it will be kept to the letter." With this I placed the
precious document in my breast pocket, and, making a sign to De
Lorgnac, turned to go; but with a cry La Valentinois sprang to her feet.

"You lie!" she said shrilly; "you lie! Give me my letters, or----"
And words failed her for once as she stood there, with such fear and
baffled hate in her look as I have never seen in human eyes.

"No, madame," I said, "I do not lie, and threats are useless. If this
pardon is recalled," and I touched my breast pocket, "the consequences
rest with you--and you know what they will be."

"There is no need for alarm," put in De Lorgnac. "I pledge my word to
deliver you the letters as soon as the conditions are complete."

She glanced from the one to the other of us, and set her white teeth.

"To be beaten!" she gasped rather than spoke. "To be beaten!--and by
that Italian woman!"

"Look you, madame!" I said sternly, for doubts were crowding thick and
fast upon me. "If you have played false--if there is any treachery or
trickery here--it is ruin to you, and no power in France can save you."

She gave me a single, livid glance, and then her courage broke, and
burying her face in her hands she stood shaking like an aspen.

De Lorgnac and I looked at each other, the same thought with us, and
then on a sudden the wretched woman made a step forward and clutched me
by the arm, her face like death, her breath coming thick and fast.

"It is not my fault," she gasped, "but he--the Vidame. Messieurs, if
Mademoiselle de Paradis is to be saved, if I am to be saved, you mus