Chateau, proceeded down it, keeping a sharp look-out on either
hand.

It was then, my thoughts turning to the lady who was now so near,
and who, noble, rich, and a stranger, seemed, as I approached
her, not the least formidable of the embarrassments before me--it
was then that I made a discovery which sent a cold shiver through
my frame, and in a moment swept all memory of my paltry ten
crowns from my head. Ten crowns! Alas! I had lost that which
was worth all my crowns put together--the broken coin which the
King of Navarre had entrusted to me, and which formed my sole
credential, my only means of persuading Mademoiselle de la Vire
that I came from him. I had put it in my pouch, and of course,
though the loss of it only came home to my mind now, it had
disappeared with the rest.

I drew rein and sat for some time motionless, the image of
despair. The wind which stirred the naked boughs overhead, and
whirled the dead leaves in volleys past my feet, and died away at
last among the whispering bracken, met nowhere with wretchedness
greater, I believe, than was mine at that moment.



CHAPTER IV.

MADEMOISELLE DE LA VIRE.

My first desperate impulse on discovering the magnitude of my
loss was to ride after the knaves and demand the token at the