LOUTS DUVAL.

 "Then how could you come hither unobserved ?"
 demanded the Count; and, indeed, how came you in
 Anjou ? and what are you ? And why went you away
 from us so hastily and secretly ? Come, you must give
 some account of yourself before I trust you out of
 sight;" and again the Count laid his hand upon his
 pistol.
 Nevertheless, he did not forget to urge his wife to
 eat of what Louis had brought; neither did he alto-
 gether neglect his own requirements. On his part,
 Louis seemed in no particular hurry to depart; for
 while his old protectors were eagerly eating, he seated
 himself at a little distance, and told them as much of
 his own history as is already known to the reader.
 "c And I came hither without much danger," he
 said, "for my father has now the command of a regi-
 ment which encamped, two days ago, not two miles
 from this spot, on the river's bank; and by his con-
 trivance,-for, madame, though my father is a repub-
 lican soldier, he is not a cruel and persecuting one,
 and he has a memory for your kindness to me,-so by
 his contrivance I stole away from the camp, and no
 one but himself knows whither I went. And then
 you know, sir, I am well acquainted with the river
 and the woods about here, so that, knowing where our
 sentinels are placed, I can easily pass them on my
 return."
 Louis," said the Count, when the youth had
finished his explanations, "I will trust you; but if
you deceive me--"
 I will not deceive you, sir,-neither will my
father; and we have promised each other to save you
and madame. May I go now to the boat ?"
 The Count nodded, and Louis disappeared. In
less than an hour he returned with the provisions he