Desmond said carelessly, "when we are in ignorance of the very
name of the lady, and of the important point, whether she has
voluntarily gone away either with a lover or to a convent, or
whether she has been carried off against her will. If the latter,
you were talking of adventures, O'Neil, and this would be just the
sort of adventure that I should like; for us three to discover the
maiden, and rescue her from her abductor."

The others both laughed loudly.

"And this is the young officer who, the other day, declared that
he wished for no adventures save those that came in the course of
a campaign, and now he is declaring that he would like to become a
very knight errant, and go about rescuing damsels in distress!"

"I have no idea of carrying it into execution," Desmond said. "It
was merely an expression of a wish. Of course, if the lady in
question went willingly and to avoid persecution, I would rather
help than hinder her; but if she has been carried off by some
ruined courtier, nothing would please me better than to rescue her
from him."

Several days had passed, and at last it was confidently believed
that the missing lady was the daughter of Baron Pointdexter, a
magnate of Languedoc, who had but recently come up to court, on an
intimation from the king that it was a long time since he had been
seen there, and that His Majesty hoped that he would be
accompanied by his daughter, of whose beauty reports had reached
him. It was certain that neither she nor her father had attended
any of the receptions or fetes at Versailles, since the rumour