ow of your--deception?"

"Three--besides yourself. Dagmar, Quinnox and Captain Dangloss. The
Abbot will know later on, and I shiver as I think of it. The driver and
the man who went to your cell, Ogbot, know of the escape, but do not
know I am here. Allode--you remember him--is our driver."

"Allode? He's the fellow who saw me--er--who was in the throne room."

"He is the man who saw nothing, sir."

"I remember his obedience," he said, laughing in spite of his
unhappiness. "Am I to have no freedom up here--no liberty, at all?"

"You are to act as the Abbot or the prior instructs. And, I must not
forget, Quinnox will visit you occasionally. He will conduct you from
the monastery and to the border line at the proper time."

"Alas! He will be my murderer, I fear. Yetive, you do not believe I
killed Lorenz. I know that most of them do, but, I swear to you, I am
no more the perpetrator of that cowardly crime than you. God bears
testimony to my innocence. I want to hear you say that you do not
believe I killed him."

"I feared so at first,--no, do not be angry--I feared you had killed him
for my sake. But now I am sure that you are innocent."

The carriage stopped too soon and Quinnox opened the door. It was still
as dark as pitch, but the downpour had ceased except for a disagreeable,
misty drizzle, cold and penetrating.

"We have reached the stopping place," he said.

"And we are to walk from here to the gate," said the Princess, resuming
her hoarse, manly tones. While they were busy donning their rain coats,
she whispered in Lorry's ear: "I beg of you, do not let him know that
you have discovered who I am."

He promised, and lightly snatched a kiss, an act of indiscretion that
almost brought fatal results. Forgetful of the darkness, she gave vent
to a little protesting shriek, fearing that the eyes of the captain had
witnessed the pretty transgression. Lorry laughed as he sprang to
the road and turned to assist her in alighting. She promptly and
thoughtfully averted the danger his gallantry presented by ignoring the
outstretched hands, discernible as slender shadows protruding from an
object a shade darker than the night, and leaped boldly to the ground.
The driver was instructed to turn the carriage about and to await their
return.

With Lorry in the center the trio walked rapidly off in the darkness,
the fugitive with the sense of fear that belongs only to a blind man. A
little light far ahead told the posi