"Ha! Beauséant!" exclaimed the valorous and enthusiastic Wirtig. "Is it indeed so? Methinks there will be cut-and-thrust work ere the proud Norman reach his prey. Ha! St Andrew! he shall have a right Scottish answer. And though he were the bravest knight that ever put foot in stirrup--" "Expend not the precious moments in similes," interrupted Alexis. "Remember only that the man is glib of tongue, and let him not mislead you by friendly professions." "Not I, by the soul of Hereward!" replied Wirtig, leaving the room. Alexis hastened to the Englishman. "You must be off, my good sir," he said. "A detachment of the bodyguard of Prince Hector of Rauchpfeifenheim is in pursuit of you. Their officer is in the house, making clamorous inquiry." "The devil he is!" cried the stranger, sobered by the intelligence. "What is to be done? The horse I came upon is foundered. Infernal country! Accursed steamboat! I cannot leave the place on foot." "Leave the house, at any rate," said Alexis, "and we will then see what to do. Delay another minute, and escape is impossible. Follow me, as you love liberty and life." The Englishman obeyed. Alexis led the way into a back-room, threw open a window, and stepped out upon a balcony, whence a flight of steps descended into the garden of the hotel. This was quickly traversed, and the two men reached a narrow and solitary lane, formed by stables and garden walls, and close to the outskirts of the town. Ten paces off stood a postchaise, the door open and the steps down. "Now then, sir," said the driver in a sleepy voice, as they approached his vehicle, "Jump in. No time to lose." "How fortunate!" said the Englishman, "here is a carriage." "But not for you, is it?" said Alexis. The Englishman laughed, and clapped his hand on his pocket. "Everything for money. Drive on, postilion, and at a gallop. A double _trinkgeld_ for you." And he jumped into the vehicle, which instantly drove off, and had disappeared round a corner before Alexis, astonished by the suddenness of the proceeding, had time to reciprocate the farewell shouted to him by the fugitive. He was about to re-enter the garden, when a man came running down the lane. It was Elben. "How now, William," cried Alexis, "what do you here?" "The postchaise," cried the attorney, "where is it?" "The postchaise, was it for you?" "To be sure." "It has just driven off with the Englishman." "With the Englishman!" gasped Elben. "Destruction! And Emily in it!" "Emily! my cousin! The devil! What do you mean?" "Alexis, you are my friend--with you I need not dissemble. That carriage was to bear me and Emily from her father's tyranny. I put her into it ten minutes ago. She insisted I should be armed, and I returned for these!" And, throwing open his cloak, he exhibited a pair of enormous horse pistols, and a rapier, which, from its antiquated fashion, might have belonged to a cotemporary of the Great Frederick.