As she spoke, the Duke of Nemours, with one or two of the gentlemen attached to him, entered the room; and the meal which he had ordered was soon after served. The irritation under which he had laboured, on account of the loss of the battle, when first De Montigni and his fair companion had fallen into his hands, had passed away; and towards Rose d'Albret, at least, he had resumed all that courtesy for which he was renowned. To De Montigni his demeanour was varying and uncertain; never, indeed, returning to the harsh rudeness which he had at first displayed, but sometimes cold and icy, sometimes gay and almost kind. He was a Prince who had acquired, without much cause, a high reputation throughout Europe, and De Montigni knew him by report to be brave to a fault, generous to prodigality, and affecting a chivalrous tone in his conduct and manners; but he was not aware of the faults, which afterwards developed themselves so remarkably and caused the Duke's ruin and his death,--selfishness, ambition, tyrannical severity, and a wild vanity, that led him to overestimate in all things his own abilities, and his own importance. As they sat together at the table, for a time, the fairer points of the Duke's character were alone exhibited to his prisoners. He addressed De Montigni more than once, pressed Rose to partake of the meal before them, spoke of the events of the battle, and even lauded highly the skill and character of the King.--The young Baron deceived himself into the belief that these external signs of a high and noble nature, might be the genuine indications of the heart; and he resolved to cast himself upon his generosity, to explain to him the circumstances in which he stood, and to beseech him to refrain, at least for a short period, from placing Mademoiselle d'Albret in the power of those who were but too likely to misuse the opportunity. As if to check him in such purposes, almost the next moment, Nemours resumed towards him his haughty and overbearing manner; and thus he went on from time to time; at one moment appearing to forget that De Montigni was an adversary and a prisoner, and the next treating him almost as if he were a condemned criminal.