So leave Paris tonight and seek out some safe retreat where no one can find you, for to-morrow I shall speak.

Of course if I am quit for a woman's tears, if no more difficult task lies before me than to soothe a weeping wife, you can return immediately; but if, as is too probable, the blow has been struck by the hand of a rival furious at having been defeated, the matter will not so easily be cut short; the arm of the law will be invoked, and then I must get my head out of the noose which some fingers I know of are itching to draw tight." "You are quite right, sir," answered the commander; "I fear that my influence at court is not strong enough to enable me to brave the matter out.

Well, my success has cost me dear, but it has cured me for ever of seeking out similar adventures.

My preparations will not take long, and to-morrow's dawn will find me far from Paris." Quennebert bowed and withdrew, returning home to console his Ariadne..