'Count Raymond,' exclaimed the cuirassier, full of rage and vengeance, 'I was guiltless before; but shall no longer be so!' and levelling his arquebuse, before he could be disarmed, he fired a bullet through his colonel's plume. 'Thou art a brave fellow!' said the Count, with a sudden admiration of his heedless daring; 'I pardon thee--give me thy hand; and, in the charge to-morrow, let us see who will go furthest among the Swedish ranks--thou or I.' Next day was fought the great battle of Leipzig; where the furious ardour of the Count de Montecuculi carried him so far among the ranks of the victorious Swedes, that he was taken prisoner. One soldier, who attempted to rescue him, was also taken. He was the hero of the cornfield adventure--Raynold Cheyne, of Dundargle--who thereafter left the Imperial service and joined the Scottish Guard. 'Have you seen the house that the Comte de Treville, captain of the Musketeers, has built for Ninon de l'Enclos?' asked the Marechal de Logis, after the foregoing anecdote. 'Ninon,' murmured, the chevalier; 'the beautiful Ninon--no.' ''Tis quite a Palais Royale!' said Cheyne. 'How--has he left Marion de l'Orme?' 'No--for she still visits him at night, disguised as a page. So M. de Bouillon told me.' 'Oho--just as she visits Richelieu.' 'She looked charming as she passed the cabaret where we dined yesterday, chevalier.' 'Yes, Marechal, attended by Rouville, who fought the duel about her with La Ferte Senecterre, exchanging five pretty sword-thrusts and two pistol-shots.' 'She has a divine hand!' 'And magnificent bust.' 'But she spoils it,' said Livingstone, 'by those hideous stays that are now in fashion.' 'Ah--that devilish invention of the queen of M. Henri le Grand,' said the Marechal de Logis, for, in phraseology and tastes, those Gardes Ecossais had become quite French. 'Still, she is not comparable to Madame d'Amboise,' observed Cheyne. 'If we go to war with Duke Charles,' said the Viscount, 'what will the King do with his beautiful Lorrainer?' 'Send her to keep company with La Fayette in her convent perhaps.' 'Her brother Raoul d'Ische commands a fortress in Alsace,' said Gordon; 'but is it true that the Marquis our captain has quite relinquished Marion de l'Orme?' 'Always that woman,' said the chevalier, laughing; ''pon my soul, Marechal, I begin to think you are in love with her yourself.' 'Having a fortune to spend--my poor pay as Marechal de Logis of horse.' 'No--the Marquis has only been playing a game of three points. In love with Mademoiselle de Chevreuse, with the Duchesse de Bouillon and with Marion.' 'So if he loses one point, two still remain.' 'But the blue-eyed Chevreuse is said to view with favour our brave countryman the Lord Teviot, a colonel of pikes.' 'Then she must find a successor,' said Gordon, 'for my Lord Teviot was yesterday committed to the Bastille for slaying a Chevalier of St. Lazare in a duel.' 'To the Bastille!'