Beatrice shook off the man's hold without showing the slightest symptom of alarm or agitation; and ever ready with a reply, she answered, "Not the door of a church! Is it the door of a Huguenot _prêche_ then? and are you a _maheutre_ minister? Come, come! what do you stop us for? They told me that the Bearnois and his beasts were gone, and that we could go out in safety and see where the Huguenots roasted their apples." "You have more malice in your heads than that, my good youths, I have a notion," replied the soldier. "We must have your names at least. Give us your name, my good boy." "Mine is Monseigneur le Duc du Petit Chatelet," replied Beatrice, laughing; "so put that down in your book." The soldier shook his finger at her good-humouredly enough. "You are a wild one," he said, "and will break many a country wench's heart, I'll warrant you, ere you be done with it. But what is your name, my pretty little abbé, that stand there holding by the cart and blushing like a girl of fifteen?" Eugenie hesitated, and blushed a thousand times more deeply than before; but Beatrice instantly came to her aid, exclaiming, "Do not tell him your real name, silly boy; have you not wit to make one? What has he to do with your real name? Monsieur le Soldat, or better still, Monsieur le Lanceprisade, this gentleman here present is called L'Abbé des Ponts et Chaussees,--so put that down in your book also!" "Very well, I will," replied the man; "but before I let you go farther, I must know whether these are your real names or not, and I think we have one within there who can tell us." Eugenie's heart sunk, and even Beatrice's confidence seemed a little shaken, while the soldier, turning to some of his companions, exclaimed, "send out the old man there, and we shall soon see if he recognises these two pretty youths!" The moment after, an elderly man, dressed much in the costume of a major-domo belonging to some old family of distinction, came forth from the gate-house and approached them, holding up his hands and eyes, as if in horror and astonishment. Eugenie looked to Beatrice, to see what was to come next; but a suppressed smile upon the countenance of her fair friend re-assured her, although the words that accompanied that smile tended to a contrary effect. "We are caught now, Eugene," she exclaimed aloud, "we are caught now, that is clear!" At the same time the old man advanced, crying, in a lamentable tone, "Ah! young gentlemen, young gentlemen! how could you play such a trick? There's my Lord the Marquis been storming like mad, and your lady-mother crying her eyes out, ever since you left the chateau. We thought you must have fallen into the hands of the Huguenots, and there has been nothing but fear and anxiety through the whole household. You, Monsieur Leonard, your father said he could understand your running away, for you are always in mischief, but how you could persuade Monsieur l'Abbé here to accompany you, he could not understand!"