"Ce qu'il a," said the old Marquis de Langy, "c'est l'hardiesse et la promptitude. He takes the fort while you are looking about for the pontoons and the scaling ladders."

"C'est vrai," said D'Armagnac. "We'd a fair start—il y avait champ libre pour tous; but whilst we have been discussing who she is and where she came from, Rochechouart pays her a visit, and persuades her to accept his carriage and his box."

"He ought to make a capital commander, Rochechouart," said De L'Orme.

"And so he would," answered De Langy. "I am old, and may not live to see it; but you'll find that when Rochechouart has discharged the unhealthy humours that disfigure his character, il sera tout autre homme. There are the germs of much good in him; but they are stifled by his passions and his vanity."

"I have a mind to go round and introduce myself," said De L'Orme, "before Rochechouart comes."

"You may as well remain where you are," said D'Armagnac. "I've tried my fortune already, and that scoundrel Dillon, literally shut the door in my face, declaring he'd the Duke's special orders to admit no one. 'I dare not for