V.--M. RIBAUT IS OBDURATE 266 VI.--RIBAUT PLAYS A CARD 276 VII.--I AM FORTUNATE IN FINDING A NEW FRIEND 284 VIII.--I KEEP AN APPOINTMENT 292 IX.--A DESCENT INTO A CESSPOOL 299 X.--MÈRE FOUCHON SCORES 309 XI.--TORTURE 316 XII.--A CHILD OF THE NIGHT 329 XIII.--A NIGHT OF AGONY 339 XIV.--GREATER LOVE THAN MINE 350 XV.--TO THE CHURCH OF ST. LANDRY 358 XVI.--M. D’ARGENSON’S COUP 370 ENVOY 377 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Oh, but he was a man!--a match for both of us almost _Frontispiece_ She came to me shyly 22 My bonds fell from me 98 Who, looking deep into her eyes, could have lacked inspiration? 250 “I forbid the marriage” 372 MARSAN A ROMANCE OF THE MIDI CHAPTER I I CHANCE UPON AN ADVENTURE IT was at the corner of the Rue Gogard that I saw her first. You may, perhaps, recall the place, if you know Montauban. A great barrack of a building, time-stained and neglected, blocks the way as one turns into it from the Rue Pluvois. Before the house is a high wall, pierced by a single gateway. The door is of oak, four inches thick and heavily barred with iron,--Vincennes has few stronger,--wherefrom it may be seen that he who built the structure was a man who had his enemies. The door held my eye, as I turned the corner, by its very massiveness, and just as I reached it, it was flung open with a crash, and a girl rushed into the street. She stopped as she saw me standing there, and my hat was sweeping the pavement as I caught her eyes on mine. “You seem a man of honor,” she said, and pressed her hand against her breast as though to calm the beating of her heart. “A thousand thanks, Mademoiselle,” I answered, and I saw that even the stark emotion which possessed her could not bemask the beauty of her face. “Believe me, I shall be most happy to prove it.” “You have a sword?” she asked, still eying me with attention. I threw back my cloak and touched the hilt. “And know how to use it?” “Try me, Mademoiselle,” I said simply. The color swept back into her face and her eyes narrowed with sudden resolution. “Then follow me, Monsieur,” she said, and turned back through the gateway.