'The affair is mine,' I said coldly. 'It is to carry off a
lady.'

He whistled and looked me over again, an impudent leer in his
eyes. 'A lady?' he exclaimed. 'Umph! I could understand a
young spark going in for such--but that's your affair. Who is
it?'

'That is my affair, too,' I answered coolly, disgusted by the
man's venality and meanness, and fully persuaded that I must
trust him no farther than the length of my sword. 'All I want
you to do, M. Fresnoy,' I continued stiffly, 'is to place
yourself at my disposal and under my orders for ten days. I will
find you a horse and pay you--the enterprise is a hazardous one,
and I take that into account--two gold crowns a day, and ten more
if we succeed in reaching a place of safety.'

'Such a place as--'

'Never mind that,' I replied. 'The question is, do you accept?'

He looked down sullenly, and I could see he was greatly angered
by my determination to keep the matter to myself. 'Am I to know
no more than that?' he asked, digging the point of his scabbard
again and again into the ground.

'No more,' I answered firmly. 'I am bent on a desperate attempt
to mend my fortunes before they fall as low as yours; and that is
as much as I mean to tell living man. If you are loth to risk