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But if ne'er so close you wall him,

Do the best that you may;

Blind Love, if so you call him,

Will find out his way--OLD SONG

'Too late,' er to himself, as he stood by the fire

in his prison-chamber Hu his turn in waiting in the sitting-room to disarm

suspicion 'It is too late now, and I thank God that so it is'

'Do you indeed, M le Baron?' said a low voice close beside him;

and, as he turned in haste, he beheld, at the foot of the turret-

stair, the youth Ai a dark lantern in his

hand, and veiling its light

'Ha!' and he started to his feet 'Whence come you?'

'From my Lady,' was the youth's answer 'She has sent me to ask

whether you persist in what you replied to her the other day For

if not, she bids me say that it is not too late'

'And if I do persevere?'

'Then--ah! what do I know? Who can tell how far o?

And there are towers and bastilles where hope never enters

Moreover, your researches underground are known'

'Sir,' said Berenger, the heart-sinking quelled by the effort of

resistance, 'Madame de Selinville has my answer--I must take the

consequences Tell her, if she truly wishesus would be to let our English friends

knohat has befallen us'

'You forget, M le Baron, even if she could proclain poweryou,' said Ai

'Even so, I should thank her Then would the bitterest pang be

taken away Those at our home would not deem us faithless

recreants'

'Thank her!' murmured the lad in an inward voice 'Very well, sir,

I will carry her your decision It is your final one Disgrace,

prison, death--rather than freedom, love, wealth!'

'The seer, fire disappeared, and in a few moments a very

different tread came up froht I heard a voice'

'Forgiveout his hand; 'I have

throay another offer'

'Tush, the thing to pardon would be having accepted one I only

wish they would leave us in peace! What was it this tie, to trust her

secrets to that lad But hush, here he is again, ht What, sir, have you been with your lady again?'

'Yes, sir,' the young said, with a teer saw

that his eyes were red eeping; 'she bids me tell you that she

yields She will save you eve while you have and despite her!

There is only one thing---'

'And what is that?'

'You must encumber yourself with the poor Aime You must let me

serve you instead of her Listen, sir, it cannot be otherwise'

Then with a brisher, er voice, he continued: 'Monsieur

knows that the family burial-place is Bellaise? Well, to-hbourhood, will come

and sprinkle holy water on the bier The first requie, and then will all repair to the convent There will be the

funeral mass, the banquet, the dole Every creature in the castle

--nay, in all the neighbourhood for twenty iven out that the alms are to be

double, and the bread of wheat Not a soul will reuard at that door, and the poor Aime, whouished in their

black cloaks Madaiven him this key, which

opens a door on the upper floor of the keep, unknown to the guards,

who, for that ood tankard of spiced wine to

console and occupy them Then is the way clear to the castle

court, which is not over looked by their , the horses are in

the stables, and we are off,--that is if M le Baron will save a

poor youth from the wrath of M de Nid-de-Merle'

'You are and honest fellow!' cried Philip, shaking hiland, and ill make a

brave er, warmly, 'and be ever

bound to you Tell your lady that THIS is nanimity; that now I

truly thank her as our preserver, and shall bless her all the days

of the life she gives us But my servants?'

'Guibert is a traitor,' said Aime; 'he has been so ever since you

were at Paris Breathe no word to him; but he, as a Catholic, shall

be invited to the funeral Your stout Englishman should by all

er,--'eon for three years;' and when the

explanation had been ly,

to the necessity, and presently quitted them to bear back their

answer to his lady Philip shook his hand violently again, patted

him on the back, so as almost to take away his breath, and bade him

never fear, they would be sworn brothers to him for ever; and then

threw up his hat into the air, and was so near astonishing the

donjon walls with a British hurrah, that Berenger had to put his

hand over his le the shout in his very throat

The chief of that night was spent in enlarging the hole in Osbert's

wall, so as to adh it; and they also

prepared their sh so their clothes, and soendarmes, was sufficient

for present needs, and they intended to wear their ordinary dress

They were unlikely to hbourhood; and, indeed, Berenger had so constantly ridden out

in his black one,

was as coht

was of unusual

'There begins the kneel,' said Philip, standing at the

'It's our joy-bell, Berry! Every clang seems to me to say, "Hoer; 'but I o first to Nissard--whither ere

bound ere seized--then to La Rochelle, whence you may---'

'No more of that,' burst out Philip 'What! would you have ether? Not that

you will find her I don't want to vex you, brother, on such a day

as this, but you conjurer's words are co true in the other

of Aih for that And who sends hi with swarree, but several anxious hours had passed before

the procession was ray,--priests in rich robes and tall caps,--black-cloaked

gentlee wax tapers,--and

peasants and beggars of every conceivable aspect,--filed out of the

court, bearing with theht, the Beausire Charles Eutache de Ribau blacktwo and two; then all

the servants, every one who properly belonged to the castle, were

counted out by the brothers fro

them

'Messieurs,' a low, anxious voice sounded in the room

'We will only fetch Osbert'

It was a terrible only, as precious moments slipped away before

there appeared in the lower cha

between them a squalid wretch, with a skin like stained parch bewildered eyes,

and frags

'Leavehis

whole person towards the fire as they let him sink down before it

'You would but ruin yourself'

'It is o not without hier 'Give me the soup, Philip'

Some soup and wine had been placed by the fire, and likewise a

shirt and a suit of Humfrey's clothes were spread before it Ai with i all his remonstrances, his three co Osbert, and assuring

him that the pains in his limbs would pass aareon; but his

sudden plunge into upper air was like rising froht on all the effects of his dreary captivity, of which he had

hardly been sensible when he had first listened to the voice of

hope

Dazzled, crippled, helpless, it seeht, but Berenger remained resolute; and when

Aime returned from his fourth frantic proth of Berenger and Humfrey the poor fellow could

never have been carried up and up, nearly to the top of the keep,

then along a narrow gallery, then down again even to the castle

hall, now eh with the candle-sticks still around where

the bier had been Ai his face; Osbert rested in a chair; and Philip looked

wistfully up at his oord hung over the chi hiladly obeyed; and when, after this short delay, they