"She is worse than a prisoner, my Lord Duke," said the young nobleman, "if you send her back to the Château of Marzay.--Nay, hear me out, my Lord. I have ever heard that the Duke of Nemours is the flower of the French nobility for chivalrous generosity. His name has reached me even in Italy, where I have so long sojourned, and if when I entered France I had been asked on whom I would soonest rely for aid and protection in any honourable enterprise, I should have answered, 'on Monsieur de Nemours.' Now, my Lord, I will tell you the plain truth regarding the situation of myself and Mademoiselle d'Albret, and if your own heart will suffer you to send her back to the captivity in which she is held at Marzay, I am much mistaken." He then proceeded to relate the circumstances in which he had found Rose on his return from Italy; the arts that had been employed to deceive them both; and the recourse which they had had to flight as the only means of delivering the lady from the position in which they had placed her. Nemours listened with a varying countenance, but without any interruption. At one moment De Montigni thought he was touched; at another, a heavy frown came upon his brow; at another, a look of impatience passed over his face, as if he were tired of the tale; and when the young nobleman had ended, he replied in an indifferent tone--"All very lamentable, Monsieur de Montigni; but still, unless you were prepared to subscribe to the Holy Catholic Union, I should not be justified in retaining Mademoiselle d'Albret from her guardian. Even if you were, indeed, it would still be a consideration whether the long services of Monsieur de Chazeul would not require us to bestow the hand of the lady upon him, rather than upon a fresh and uncertain convert." "What!" exclaimed De Montigni, hastily, "the contract with her father, her own inclination, and my undoubted right to count for nothing!" "I am no lawyer," answered Nemours coldly; "I know no thing of contracts. If you think yourself injured in regard to that matter, the courts are open to you." "Nay, nay, Monsieur de Nemours," cried De Montigni. "Do not, for your own good name's sake, treat the matter in such a tone! Do not sanction, by the approval of the Duke of Nemours, a line of conduct which you must feel has been most base and dishonourable!" The Duke coloured. "Well, Sir," he answered, "I will not sanction it. If all the circumstances be as you say, wrong has been done. But I am very sorry, I cannot help it now. A different statement of the affairs has been made to me in letters from Chazeul; and, to end all in one word, the lady is already far on her way towards Marzay." De Montigni started and gazed on him with a stern and angry brow. "And you have really done this thing?" he asked. "I have," replied Nemours, returning his glance with one of equal fire.