"Long ere to-morrow morning our friends will be here," replied De Montigni; "and you will be caught in your own trap. So do as you list gentlemen, but think not to deceive us, for we will keep good watch too." "We know better, we know better," answered the last speaker. "The Bearnois is at Mantes, his forces dispersing, and he himself going on to Meulan. So we shall rest quiet enough, and to-morrow will see you our prisoner, or roasted like an egg in the ashes. You have wounded one of our best men, I fear, to death; and you shall not escape us; but if you surrender to-night you shall have good quarter." "That I will never," cried De Montigni; "and if one of you be wounded to death, many another shall fall before you place the faggots that you talk of; and so no more; for if you come nearer I will fire." The spokesman of the Leaguers retiring slowly, seemed to consult for a few minutes with the rest; and then, carrying away two in their arms, while another walked supported by one of his companions, the whole body retreated from the court; but by the remaining light they might be seen to halt just beyond the walls; and one small party was observed to detach itself to the right and a second to the left, as if to guard the other sides of the building. A single horseman, too, rode off in the direction of the hill from which they had come down in pursuit; and it was evident that their present intention was to keep their word of remaining before the château all night. CHAPTER XXX. When Helen de la Tremblade first entered the chapel by a private door which led from a small room, called the sacristy, through the walls, into the country beyond, and of which Estoc possessed a key, she found the building vacant. There stood the coffin, covered with its pall; there burnt the lights upon the altar; and a little further on the pale flame of a votive lamp, dedicated by some of the deceased lords of Liancourt to their patron saint, flickered before a little shrine, and cast a faint gleam into the right-hand aisle.