darkness it was impossible to distinguish faces.

'Hush!' the stouter figure muttered in a tone of warning. 'Speak
lower. Who are you, and what do you here?'

'I am here,' I answered respectfully, 'commissioned by a friend
of the lady I have named, to convey her to a place of safety.'

'Mon dieu!' was the sharp answer. 'Now? It is impossible.'

'No,' I murmured, 'not now, but to-night. The moon rises at
half-past two. My horses need rest and food. At three I will be
below this window with the means of escape, if mademoiselle
choose to use them.'

I felt that they were staring at me through the dusk, as though
they would read my breast. 'Your name, sir?' the shorter figure
murmured at last, after a pause which was full of suspense and
excitement.

'I do not think my name of much import at present, Mademoiselle,'
I answered, reluctant to proclaim myself a stranger. 'When--'

'Your name, your name, sir!' she repeated imperiously, and I
heard her little heel rap upon the stone floor of the balcony.

'Gaston de Marsac,' I answered unwillingly.

They both started, and cried out together. 'Impossible!' the
last speaker exclaimed, amazement and anger in her tone, 'This is