by the powder and balls, when even Jacquin himself was ignorant of what was going on?"

"Oh! as for that, I will not just undertake to say that the creature is loaded. Powder and balls, let me tell you, do more harm than good. If, even now, for instance, I had shot one of these six cavaliers, there would have been an end at once of my utility; and we should all have had our throats cut, without fail, by the remaining five. As it was, I'll warrant you, there was not one of the half-dozen but thought we were aiming at his own peculiar self, and saw, in imagination, as he fled, our muzzle pointed at his hinder end. The idea, my friends, of defending a wagon with a culverine is obvious enough; but an unthinking person, such as Nigel, would have loaded it, and so have spoiled all."

This explanation was received with a shout of laughter, which had the effect of drawing Jacquin Houpelande out of the hostelrie, where he had been standing at the window, listening to the conversation of the young men, and turning ever and anon a glance up the hill. His face was pale, and his manner somewhat flurried; but he saluted the knight with great cordiality, apologizing for not having come out to his assistance, on the plea of having had to attend to his daughter, who would needs faint when she saw him catching up his sword.

"After all," said he, "I could have been of little use, as the cloth was cut; for the prisoners I should have employed myself in taking (after the instinct of a magistrate) would have been of more burden than profit. However, Andrew certainly deserves credit for his courage and forethought. That culverine, you must know, I provided for the defence of mine own house during the English troubles, intrusting it to the management of the foreman of my business: but could you conceive it? the senseless beast had the folly to put powder and ball into its mouth, and the consequence was, that, when it went off, it alarmed the whole street. For my own part, I am not easily moved; but such was the diabolical report, that I did not cut even for a twelvemonth after. However, Andrew, there is no need for overhardiness; and now that you have scattered your enemies upon the four winds of heaven, I would recommend you just to come quietly down-and the quieter the betterand leave the ugly monster, since it is there, to itself. I assure you, for all the noise it made, I will not undertake to say that it went off entirely."

"Be not alarmed for me," said Andrew, "for I am now

in some sort acquainted with the creature; and when time serves, I would willingly hold a discourse with Sir Archibald, who is a man of war, touching such matters. I must say, however, that it is not so much to me he is beholden, on the present occasion, as to Nigel; for if he had not brought yonder horse to the ground, and his rider with him, the battle would have been finished before I had time to light my match."

66

The

"It is just on that subject," said the knight, 'that I meant to have craved a moment's hearing from Nigel; but it was my purpose to have spoken with him in private, lest what I should find it my duty to say might have more the air of reproof than would be palatable in company. blow, Nigel, to make my admonition the shorter, since we are not alone, was foul; and I beg of you earnestly to remember for the future, that you are ever to strike at the rider, and not at the steed."

66

Holy Mary!" cried Nigel, "heard ever being the like of that! Why I might as well hammer upon an anvil all day, as strike at a man clothed in steel from top to toe! And suppose I had taken your advice in the present fray, pray where would you have been now, Sir Knight, with six such horsemen against us three?"

"The excuse," said the knight mildly, "is a bad one. Your true defence, Nigel, consists in your want of experience in arms. What signifies it, where you or I are at the end of a combat, or whether the odds were for or against us? The laws of honour must be upheld, whatever becomes of the individual; and these strictly forbid any interference with the enemy's horse. In a duel fought on equal terms, you must only strike within the four members; but in such sudden encounters as the present, where odds are not reckoned, it may be that some relaxation of the rule might be permitted, though certainly not so far as you have unadvisedly carried it. I beseech you, Nigel, for the future, touch not the horse!"

While thus conversing, the attendants having left off their stone battle, had made ready the wagons for starting; and Houpelande's pretty daughter came forth in a riding-dress that would have done no dishonour to a woman of quality. She did not travel on horseback, however, but in front of the wagon; to which Bauldy lifted her with devout assiduity, only taking a longer time in the transit than might have been expected from a youth of his agility. The fortified wagon now only waited for the other, which was before it, to clear the way; and its owner at length came

forth, in the person of a little, sallow, withered old man, wrapped up from head to foot in a dark cloak, with his hat slouching over his brow in the fashion of a modern Spanish bravo. He was presented to Douglas in due form by Nigel, as his worthy employer, Messire Jean—”

Messire Jean

"Of Poitou?" exclaimed the knight. started suddenly back at the emphasis, and his face grew even paler than usual.

"Who asketh?" said he. "Friend, I am not the man thou seekest as the Lord liveth, my mother knew not the

name.

"That is likely enough," returned the knight. "Even if you be he whom I seek, I trust your mother, honest woman, was spared seeing that day whereon you exchanged the name of your father for that of a contriver of cautrips and unlawful spells. Tell me, know you aught of one David Armstrong?"

"I do," said the old man, reluctantly, "he was some while my apprentice in science; but, alas! my poor and humble dwelling became too small to hold his ambition, and he forsook me in my age and poverty."

"Know you where he is now ?"

He is in the family of him who is called the Lord de Retz; but I pray thee, good youth, let me alone; for I am an old man, and I must make haste on my journey ere my strength fail."

66

Öld man though you be," said the knight with firmness, "unless you answer my question distinctly, your journey shall have a different termination from what you expect. There is not one of us four but would lay down his life in the quarrel of that David Armstrong, whom I fear me you have betrayed into the snares of hell. What say you, Nigel?"

I say," answered Nigel, moodily, "that he shall go without skaith or scorn to Nantes, while I have tongue or sword to protect him."

How!" Even if I prove that he has delivered up David to the death?"

"That is a consideration which must and shall come on afterwards. In the mean time, I am under bond of fidelity to convey Messire Jean in safety to yonder city. It is a point of honour, Sir Archibald, more important than slaying a horse in defence of my own and my neighbours' lives."

"It is, Nigel," said the knight, candidly, as he held out his hand to him—“or, at least, it is of equal importance: for a man's honour, look you, is like a woman's chastity, of

which the least infringement is fatal. Let us proceed then, in the mean time; but I warn you, old man, that you are on the eve of rendering a fearful account of your iniquity!"

"As God shall judge me," replied Messire Jean, relieved from his apprehensions, "I keep honest accounts both with Jew and Christian. As for the matter of the young man, David, I loved the lad, as if he had been my own son. Could I help it, if he would go? Was it I who turned him out of his college? Did I not even warn him of the danger he would run? yea, and gird him with a weapon wherewith to defend himself? If my intentions had been evil towards him, is it likely that I should have intrusted to his care mine own daughter-my only child-the promise of my house-the stay and hope of my years- the only link that remaineth of those which fastened me to the earth?"

"Hearken, Jew," said the knight, solemnly, "If your intentions with regard to our friend were good-if you indeed did not betray him, as men say you did, into the snare then shall you find Hagar in safety with your kinsmen at Nantes. If, on the other hand, you be the agent of Satan, and his minister Prelati-ay, start, and shrink, and shiver at the name!-if, after two previous blood-offerings, you have bound our David upon the altar as the Third Victim-then no daughter's smiles shall welcome your arrival; but where you look for comfort and joy, there shall you find only darkness and desolation! And now, comrades, let us on; and while we journey, I shall unfold a tale to you, so far as I know it, as wild as ever minstrel or fabler imagined."

CHAPTER XX.

THE travellers arrived without farther adventure at Nantes; but in a very different mood of mind from that in which they had quitted Paris.

Jacquin Houpelande, not only daunted by the actual perils of the journey, but his faith shaken by the strange stories he had heard of La Verrière, in more than one road-side hostelrie, was no longer the brisk, pompous echevin, who dreamt of the sovereignty of the tailors, and who conceived that the professional risk he might incur would be amply compensated for by the homage of his brother dignitaries of Nantes, and by his daughter enjoying the condescending smiles of the damsel of Laval. In fact,

after the sort of "fractiousness," as Andrew called it, which they had witnessed on the part of the six horsemen, Jacquin would have turned his bullocks' heads without ceremony, and made his way back to France, had he not been assured that in that case his Scottish allies would have deserted him. As it was, when he found himself fairly within the gates of Nantes, it was with a kind of desperate calmness, a tragedy-tranquillity, that he took leave of all his comrades of the journey, except Bauldy, and Andrew, and commanded the wagons to drive to the Hôtel de la Suze.

A change, also, had come over the dream of his daughter Felicité. The vague shadows that flit across the imagination of a maid of eighteen had resolved into a definite and tangible form. The attentions of Bauldy had been such as she had never before received, and had never before been in circumstances to receive, from mortal man; and, at an age when a girl's heart is in search of something to love, it is not surprising that hers should have bestowed itself upon the young Scot, even before she was herself aware. That this was productive of unhappiness, could not be said; but still her happiness was of so serious a complexion, that it might have been easily mistaken for something directly the reverse. She smiled more rarely, and laughed never. The future was no longer her amusement, but her business; and ever and anon the roses fled from her rich cheek, as some sudden thought crossed, like a cloud, the horizon of her fancy.

66

The three young men. Bauldy, and Nigel, and Andrew," according to David's classification-slumbering no more under the shadow of their Alma Mater, like dogs sleeping in the sun, to be awakened every now and then by a kick, or a buffet, or the pinch of hunger, had now fairly opened their eyes upon the world. They felt, at length, that they had duties to perform, and dangers to dread or to dare. Their first anxiety, their first determination, was to deliver their comrade from what they believed to be his forcible incarceration at La Verrière; and for this purpose, they resolved to put shoulder to shoulder, with the young knight for their point d'appui. But, independently of the shade of serious thought which David's peril had cast upon their brow, their own ulterior destiny was before their eyes like an apparition. They could not return to the University. They were fairly launched upon the wide ocean; and now, instead of breaking heads out of pure pastime, they had to keep a sharp and stern look-out for