Monk surprised this flash, and immediately extinguished it
by one of those silent smiles which always caused his
interlocutors to know they had made no inroad on his mind.

"Then, my lord, it is a week that you desire me to wait?"

"A week? yes, monsieur."

"And during these days what shall I do?"

"If there should be a battle, keep at a distance from it, I
beseech you. I know the French delight in such amusements,
-- you might take a fancy to see how we fight, and you might
receive some chance shot. Our Scotchmen are very bad
marksmen, and I do not wish that a worthy gentleman like you
should return to France wounded. Nor should I like to be
obliged myself, to send to your prince his million left here
by you, for then it would be said, and with some reason,
that I paid the Pretender to enable him to make war against
the parliament. Go, then, monsieur, and let it be done as
has been agreed upon."

"Ah, my lord," said Athos, "what joy it would give me to be
the first that penetrated to the noble heart which beats
beneath that cloak!"

"You think, then, that I have secrets," said Monk, without
changing the half cheerful expression of his countenance.
"Why, monsieur, what secret can you expect to find in the