The vehicle had not proceeded many minutes, when it again stopped; and Pauline was lifted out, conducted up a flight of stone steps, and then led into an apartment, where she was placed in a fauteuil, the luxurious softness of which bespoke a very different sort of furniture from that of the chamber which she had just left. There was now a little bustle, and a good deal of whispering, and then every one seemed to leave the room. Fancying herself alone, Pauline raised her hand, in order to remove the handkerchief from her eyes, at least for a moment; but a loud "_Prenez garde!_" from the Norman, stopped her in her purpose, and the next instant a door opened, and she heard steps approaching. "Shut the door," said a voice she had never heard before. "Marteville, you have done well. Are you sure that she had no conversation with any one within the prison?" "I will swear to it!" answered the Norman, with the stout asseveration of a determined liar. "Ask your man Chauvelin, Monseigneur; he was by, and saw me catch hold of her before she was at the gate." "So he says," rejoined the other; "but now leave the room. I must have some conversation with this demoiselle myself. Wait for me without." "Pardie!" muttered the Norman, as he withdrew; "he'll find it out now, and then I'm ruined." "Mademoiselle de Beaumont," said the person that remained, "you have been engaged in a rash and dangerous enterprise--Had you succeeded in it, the Bastille must have been your doom, and severe judgment according to the law. By timely information on the subject, I have been enabled to save you from such a fate; but I am sorry to say that, for the safety of all parties, you must endure an absence from your friends for some time." He paused, as if expecting a reply; and Pauline, after a moment's consideration, determined to answer, in order to draw from him, if possible, some farther information concerning the manner in which he had become acquainted with her movements, and also in regard to her future destination. "I perceive, Sir," said she, "from your conversation, that you belong to the same rank of society as myself; but I am at a loss to imagine how any gentleman presumes to attribute dangerous enterprises, and actions deserving imprisonment, to a lady, of whom he neither does, nor can know any thing."