dulously kept himself in the background since the scene in the
king's presence, far from increasing my anxieties, had the effect of
administering a fillip to my spirits; which the cold and unyielding
pressure of the Jacobin had reduced to a low point. Here was something I
could understand, resist, and guard against. The feeling that I had
once more to do with a man of like aims and passions with myself quickly
restored me to the use of my faculties; as I have heard that a swordsman
opposed to the powers of evil regains his vigour on finding himself
engaged with a mortal foe. Though I knew that the hours of grace were
fast running to a close, and that on the morrow the priest would call
for an answer, I experienced that evening an unreasonable lightness and
cheerfulness. I retired to rest with confidence, and slept is comfort,
supported in part, perhaps, by the assurance that in that room where my
mother died her persecutor could have no power to harm me.

Upon Simon Fleix, on the other hand, the discovery that Bruhl was
moving, and that consequently peril threatened us from a new quarter,
had a different effect. He fell into a state of extreme excitement, and
spent the evening and a great part of the night in walking restlessly
up and down the room, wrestling with the fears and anxieties which beset
us, and now talking fast to himself, now biting his nails in an agony
of impatience. In vain I adjured him not to meet troubles halfway; or,
pointing to the pallet which he occupied at the foot of my couch, bade
him, if he could not devise a way of escape, at least to let the matter
rest until morning. He had no power to obey, but, tortured by the vivid
anticipations which it was his nature to entertain, he continued to
ramble to and fro in a fever of the nerves, and had no sooner lain
down than be was up again. Remembering, however, how well he had borne
himself on the night of mademoiselle's escape from Blois, I refrained
from calling him a coward; and contented myself instead with the
reflection that nothing sits worse on a fighting-man than too much
knowledge--except, perhaps, a lively imagination.

I thought it possible that mademoiselle might arrive next day before
Father Antoine called to receive his answer. In this event I hoped to
have the support of Maignan's experience. But the party did not arrive.
I had to rely on myself and my own resources, and, this being so,
determined to refuse the priest's offer, but in al