A third face too there was. At first I did not know it, but stared stupidly up at it--and then, at last, I recognized Briquet, the surgeon of M. le Duc. For a moment my blood ran cold to see him standing so, for I thought myself again upon the rack. But a second glance dispelled my terror. His face had changed. Stern it still was, but no longer lined by hate, and the eyes were almost gentle. How different from the coals of fire that had glared at Roquefort! I was too weary to seek the clue to the change, which I marvelled at without in the least understanding. But one morning it was different. I awoke strong, refreshed, my mind quite clear. It was like the dawn breaking over the hill-top, sweeping the valley clear of mist. Fronsac brought me meat and drink, which I welcomed eagerly, for I was tortured with a great hunger. And as I ate I remembered it all again--the escape, the journey to the castle, the scene in the tent, with the priest’s voice droning the service. Even yet I could not understand it--that a woman should break her word like that--and she had loved me--yes, I was quite sure that she had loved me. But of a sudden there had been dangled before her face the coronet of a duchesse--the wide lands and lofty castle of Roquefort--and she had seized the bait. Yet it had been offered her before and she had shrunk away. From month to month she had refused it, only to grasp it at this last desperate moment. I could not understand. Perhaps she had been merely playing with him; perhaps it was the sight of him lying helpless there that had moved her. In any event, there was but one course for me. I must put her out of my heart. She was now on the mountain-top, I in the valley; she was Madame la Duchesse de Roquefort, I but Paul de Marsan, with no fortune but what my sword might win me. At the end I turned to Fronsac. “Now, my friend,” I said, pushing the food away, “you must tell me everything--everything that has happened since that night.” “Are you strong enough?” he questioned, hesitating. “Strong enough?” and I laughed, for the wine had put new life into me. “I shall be out of bed to-morrow. By the way, where am I?” “You are in a room of the castle of Madame la Duchesse de Roquefort.” He saw the flush that leaped to my face and smiled. “Does that surprise you? The morning after the wedding you were found roaming about the walls quite mad. The exertion of the night before had been too much for you, it seems, and your hands were in a horrible state. We, who were thinking only of ourselves, did not think of you. You should have heard Valérie! Well, Madame la Duchesse insisted that you be brought straight here, and here you have since remained.” “And you with me,” I added gratefully. “It must have been a trying task. I can imagine your self-denial, my friend.” “Nonsense!” he interrupted hastily. “It were little to do for the man who saved my life--and more. Besides, it was not only I.” I looked at him with questioning eyes.