"Peste, monsieur! may not a lady well be modestly careful, when--Name of the devil! what's that ?" It was the note of a whistle shrilling down the narrow passage without--the passage where Dollops, in Apache garb, had been set on watch; and, hearing it, Cleek clamped his jaws together and breathed hard.

A single whistle--short and sharp, such as this one was--was the signal agreed upon that the real Clodoche was coming, and that he and Count von Hetzler had already appeared in the square beyond.
"Soul of a sloth! Will not that hurry you, _la reine_ ?" he said excitedly, in reply to Margot's startled question.

"It is the signal Fouchard's son was to give when he and von Hetzler arrived at the place where I am to meet them.

Give me the paper--quick! quick! Tear the fastenings, if they will not come undone else.

One cannot keep a von Hetzler waiting like a lackey for a scrap of ribbon and a bit of lace." "Pardieu! they have kept better men than he waiting many an hour before this," she made reply.