After much wonder, and some consideration, and a good deal of examination in the apartments of Mademoiselle d'Albret, the party were obliged to make their egress by the window again, the outer door being locked and the key gone. They found Madame de Chazeul in the hall, with an angry spot upon her cheek, and her brow knit, while the old commander, dressed as if for a journey, with his sword by his side, and the cross of his order round his neck, sat upon a bench at one side of the hall, tapping his leg deliberately with his staff. "I am glad you are come, Count," said the Marchioness; "here is our brother Michael evidently knows all about this infamous abduction; but he will make no answer to my inquiries." "Why, I told you I would not, Jacqueline, till Liancourt came," replied the Commander. "Now he is come, I will tell you all I know, and also perform the task I took upon me yesterday." "Well, Sir, well, be quick," replied the Count. "I have borne your humours too long; and I will endure no tricks and treachery, depend upon it." The old soldier's cheek grew warm. "No tricks but your own, Sir," he replied. "But we all know you are a tool in the hands of others, and therefore to be forgiven, like all weak men, who make themselves the instruments of knaves. Ay, you may stare, Jacqueline; but be good enough to remember, I was never afraid of those black eyes, even when the cheeks were round and soft, and am not more timid now, when they are shrivelled and skinny. The simple matter of fact is this, Anthony, you have all laid your heads together to deprive Louis de Montigni, the son of our poor sister Louise, of the inheritance which I renounced in her favour, and in favour of her children. I did not renounce it in your favour, Madame Jacqueline; for you were always able to take care of yourself, though Louise was mild and gentle, and consequently continually kept down, and deprived of just estimation." "And may I ask, Sir," said Monsieur de Liancourt, with a cold, and haughty air, "what business it was of yours, if Monsieur de Montigni choose to renounce also?" "I don't know that," replied the old Commander; "he cannot renounce without my returning to my rights. However, I would have made no noise about that, if he had done so willingly, and with his eyes open. But I did not choose to have him deceived, and so I was resolved he should know all. The priest there, like an honest man, told him, that he had some right to the estates, and I told him what." The Marchioness turned a fierce look upon father Walter, who met it with a calm and tranquil air, apparently in no degree taken by surprise or annoyed.