CONTENTS. CHAP. INTRODUCTION--A King in Council. I. Villeneuve-l'Abbesse. II. The Tower Chamber. III. Still Waters Troubled. IV. The Dilemma. V. The Captain of Vlaye. VI. In the Hay-field. VII. A Soldiers' Frolic. VIII. Father Angel. IX. Speedy Justice. X. Midnight Alarms. XI. The Chapel by the Ford. XII. The Peasants' Camp. XIII. Hostages. XIV. Saint and Sinner. XV. Fears. XVI. To Do or Not to Do? XVII. The Heart of Cain. XVIII. Two in the Mill. XIX. The Captain of Vlaye's Condition. XX. The Abbess Moves. XXI. The Castle Of Vlaye. XXII. A Night by the River. XXIII. The Bride's Dot. XXIV. Fors l'Amour. XXV. His Last Ride. THE ABBESS OF VLAYE. INTRODUCTION. A KING IN COUNCIL. Monsieur des Ageaux was a man of whom his best friends could not say that he shone, or tried to shine, in the pursuit of the fair sex. He was of an age, something over thirty, when experience renders more formidable the remaining charms of youth; and former conquests whet the sword for new emprises. And the time in which he lived and governed the province of Perigord for the King was a time in which the favour of ladies, and the good things to be gained thereby, stood for much, and morality for little. So that for the ambitious the path of dalliance presented almost as many chances of advancement as the more strenuous road of war. Yet des Ageaux, though he was an ambitious man and one whose appetite success--and in his degree he had been very successful--had but sharpened, showed no inclination to take that path, or to rise by trifling. Nay, he turned from it; he shunned if he did not dislike the other sex. Whether he doubted his powers--he was a taciturn, grave man--or he had energy only for the one pursuit he loved, the government of men, the thing was certain. Yet he was not unpopular even at Court, the lax Court of Henry the Fourth. But he was known for a thoughtful, dry man, older than his years and no favourite with great ladies; of whom some dubbed him shy, and some a clown, and all--a piece of furniture.