husband had promised in her name.

The stars shone brightly as I went home, and there was no moon. The town
was intensely silent, and the road intensely solitary. I met no one on
my way; let myself quietly in, and stole up to my bed-room in the dark.

It was already late; but I was restless and weary--too restless to
sleep, and too weary to read. I could not detach myself from the
impressions of the day; and I longed for the morning, that I might learn
the fate of my watch, and the condition of the Chevalier.

At length, after some hours of wakefulness, I dropped into a profound
and dreamless sleep.


* * * * *

CHAPTER IV.

THE CHEVALIER MAKES HIS LAST EXIT.

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances.
_As You Like It._

I was waked by my father's voice calling to me from the garden, and so
started up with that strange and sudden sense of trouble which most of
us have experienced at some time or other in our lives.