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If thou do this, it must be alone; for the church hath already stretched forth her hand to set the mark of Cain upon thy brow; seeing which, men will hide their faces when thou passeɛt by.

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Can you mean this?" said Gilles de Retz, trembling. "The crimes imputed to thee are murder and sorcery; and the president of thy trial is to be the Nuncio of the Pope. If thou refuse to surrender, then cometh excommunication; if thou give thyself up-the fire and the fagot."

The baron was stunned by this communication, which lost no part of its effect from the calm, cold manner in which it was delivered. His head drooped upon his bosom; and his chest, which, the moment before, had been heaving with tumultuous passion, exhibited not even the motion of life. Orosmandel continued to regard him with a calm, but observant look.

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"And you will not believe in destiny?" said Gilles de Retz, at length, as he raised his head; Come, I am ready. Forgive me for the idle words I have used, and let us proceed. Are all things ready?"

"All."

"And I also;" and the baron deliberately bared his left breast. The Magician, then entering within the circle, approached the altar. He lifted up the parchment, and opened it; when a powerful and exhilarating odour escaped from its folds, and filled the whole apartment.

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Art thou prepared?" demanded Orosmandel, solemnly. "Tell me first, if you remember our covenant? All things will I give-save one. When in the very gulf of sin, I will still have a hope-faint though it be-of salvation."

"Fear not. All is according to thy desire."

"Then am I ready."

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'Approach, then. Do what thou doest quickly; for, until all is accomplished, thou must not draw thy breath within this circle. Come!" The baron paused for a moment; but then, walking steadily towards the altar, he wounded himself with his dagger, and dipped in the blood a pen, which he received from Orosmandel. As he stooped over the bond, he was bewildered rather than guided by a sudden blaze of light. But he signed his name, and in the midst of a convulsion, resembling the slight shock of an earthquake, which shook the tower at the moment, he staggered out of the circle, and fell upon the floor.

When he recovered, he was again on his feet, supported by a grasp which Orosmandel held of his arm.

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Is it done?" said he. "Did I sign?"

"All is well. Thou wilt now prepare to go instantly forth whither thou knowest."

"And Pauline? Has she consented?"

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She is prepared; but, as yet, in ignorance of the precise task that is before her. Whisper it not till the moment arrive, when every lingering scruple will be lost in enthusiasm. Away!" and Orosmandel, opening the massive door, the baron went out, and reeled, rather than walked, through the corridor to his own apartments.

CHAPTER XXIX.

WHILE these things were taking place in the tower, Sir Archibald Douglas and his allies, at some miles' distance, were concerting measures for prosecuting the contest which they had commenced under such favourable auspices. The mind of the young knight, however, was by no means easy under the part he was playing; and there was frequently so much inconsistence observed in his counsels, that he already began to lose the place he had acquired in the estimation of his companions.

He had opened his wooing, indeed, in rather an extraordinary manner-by robbing the father of his mistress of a large sum of money; and he was now openly in arms against him. He more than half repented the reliance he had placed on David's judgment; and condemned the facility with which he had bent his neck to a yoke, which, however reasonable for the fellow-students to bear, was unworthy of a belted knight. Pauline, it seemed, was in worse peril than he had even dreamed of"-but surely not from her own father; and was it his wisest course to league himself with the spoilers of her house, and force his way to his high-born mistress at the point of the sword?

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Andrew, however, who had by this time become the confidant of his plans and wishes, held strictly to his original opinion of the wisdom of the master-scholar. David, he observed, was not overmuch given to explanation; but, neither would he suggest any plan to another, on which he had not previously brought to bear the resources of a mind far less given to miscalculation than is usual. It was difficult, doubtless, to conceive the nature of the danger which menaced the damsel in her father's house-but was not the place a den of mystery altogether? Sir Archibald might

depend that everything would turn out for the best; and, in the mean time, he had nothing to do but to follow out the suggestions of David, by prosecuting the war as briskly as possible.

In the midst of these debates, the news came to the camp, that the Duke had at length listened to the remonstrances of his nobles; that he had consented to surrender his last purchase on receiving back the money; and that an ordinance had been published, by sound of trumpet, forbidding the farther alienation of the family estates.

This, although certainly not quite unlooked for, came like a shock of thunder on Montrichard and his comrades. The enterprise which had occupied their thoughts so long was to be abandoned; their German auxiliaries were to be turned adrift without satisfaction; and worse than all, the money they had so fairly earned was to be given up! Curses, both loud and deep, ran through the camp; and many a petty baron there prepared to ride home in headlong haste, to shelter himself from the creditors that had been gathered like harpies around him by the news of his expedition.

Beauchamp was perhaps in secret more discontented than any; although no one could have discovered this through the habitual apathy of his manner. He congratulated Douglas, sarcastically, on the wisdom he had exhibited, in seeming to doubt of the expedience of pursuing an adventure which he had himself commenced; and speculated on the advantage which the prudent Scot would enjoy, in the prosecution of his love-suit, when undisturbed by the bustle of war.

"You cannot anger me, Beauchamp," said Sir Archibald, gaily; "for at this moment I am glad to the heart at what has occurred. When we have full leisure, however, if you will try with me, either on foot or on horseback, either with sword or lance-not which has the fairest mistress-but which is the worthiest servant, I will exchange as many gibes with you in that fashion as you please."

"And why not now?" said the English knight. "Neither you nor I are much encumbered with men to take care of; there is not a better field in Brittany than this whereon we stand; and here be judges enow to determine our pretensions." The rude chiefs of the rising, gathered round them in expectation of the duel.

"Come hither," answered Douglas, "and I will tell you why it must not be now;" and the two knights-whose talk was of hewing one another to pieces—walked out of the group, arm in arm. On getting beyond ear-shot, the Scot, much to

his rival's amazement, explained-if he can be said to have explained what he did not himself understand-the situation of Pauline de Laval; and proposed that, for the present, they should lay aside their mutual jealousies, and join hand in hand to save her. Beauchamp, although more a man of this sinful world than Sir Archibald, was not less a knight, and he at once pledged himself as required; but in the midst of the arrangements consequent on their new confederacy, another messenger reached the camp, whose news turned all things upside down.

This was an officer of the law, bearing a warrant for the arrest of Gilles de Retz, on a charge of murder and sorcery; and he called on all who heard, to assist him, in the name both of the church and the Duke.

If it be remembered, that many of the chiefs present were blood relations of the house of Laval, and that the ostensible object of the whole was simply to preserve the integrity of the family estates, it will easily be imagined, that this intelligence acted by no means as a sedative upon their disturbed nerves. The consultations that ensued, were brief, but conclusive. The Duke, before rendering justice, had put them to the trouble of taking up arms; and it was surely not in his service they would use them. The charge of murder might be brought against any baron in Brittany; but Gilles de Retz had murdered no kinsman of theirs, and what had they to do with it? As for sorcery, it was an affair they did not understand, and with which they would not presume to meddle; being well satisfied to leave such delinquencies in the hands of the church, which they more immediately concerned.

Montrichard was the first to give the signal for breaking up the rendezvous. Each chief collected his own men round his standard; and, by and by, the parts of the mass were seen detaching themselves by degrees, and successive bands marching sullenly away, to all points of the compass, and losing themselves in the shades of evening. Beauchamp, however, with about twenty spears of his own countrymen, still remained on the ground; and also Douglas (with Andrew for his esquire), surrounded by about as many more, consisting of foreign mercenaries, or isolated adventurers, who apparently not well knowing whither to betake themselves, looked up to him as to a leader, in as desperate a plight as themselves.

"Sir Knights," said Andrew, after a silence of some minutes, "if you will take my advice you will ride your several ways with what speed you may. If the Lord de

Retz get an inkling of your situation here, he will send out a force sufficient to cut you in pieces; and I pray you to observe, Sir Archibald, that being without my culverine, you can reckon me only as a common man. I have observed a figure, for some time past, crossing the hills from the direction of La Verrière; and, although it is now lost in the shadows that are falling around, I can almost undertake to say, that its errand is to us."

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You are right, friend," said Beauchamp, "for see, it appears again, advancing steadily to the mark-and in the semblance of a woman! If you do not claim a monopoly in that way, Douglas, perhaps you will permit me to receive her? Pshaw, it is only a peasant!" and, as he spoke, Marie stepped into the group, and approached Sir Archibald.

"I am late," said she; "I have lost precious minutes in pursuing those whom I took for your party. Tell me, Sir Knight, for the time presses, are these your friends by whom you are surrounded?"

"All friends."

"Yet speak low, my woman," interposed Andrew, "for you shall know that friends are oftentimes unsafe confidants. Bend down your ear, Sir Archibald; and if need be, you can take to yourself the merit of publishing the secret." "He speaks well," said Marie; "step aside with me, for a moment, for my errand is of life and death." "He speaks like a true Scot,' observed Beauchamp, superciliously, when they were gone, and measuring Andrew with his eye, from head to foot.

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"It is gratifying to me to hear the acknowledgment," replied the latter. But you seem to be astonished, Sir Knight-and the feeling is nothing more than natural—at finding a grain of common sense beneath a steel cap! Now, I would have you to understand, that although possessing some slight knowledge of military matters-as touching culverines, for instance, and such engines of war, I by no means consider myself as a mere soldier; I am a votary, you must know, of that virgin-goddess, who had Jupiter for a mother, and Vulcan for a midwife; and who is not only the patroness of arms, but of wisdom and the liberal arts."

"Silence, Andrew, for the sake of heaven!" cried Douglas, rejoining the group; "for this is a moment in which wisdom must give way to daring. Sir Knight, I have received sure intelligence, that the damsel of Laval, if not saved this night, is lost. A plan has been put into my hands, which will enable us to cross the supposed impassable swamps of La Verrière, and so surprise the castle. Will you assist me?"

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