'I don't think so,' I said; but he interrupted, 'At any rate not before I have paid my debt, and the bill presses.' I had purposely worked up to this. 'See here, sergeant,' I said, 'no nonsense. Brush off that bee you have on your head. You are here to-day to attend to my business, not your own. You say you are sick of your present life. Well, I have means to give you another chance, and I will do so; but I repeat again "no nonsense." You understand?' He stood silently for a moment, looking this way and that. We were within a yard or so of the forest, and its shadow covered him, all but his face, which was turned to me, drawn and white. He was struggling against old habits of absolute obedience, and they won. 'I understand, M. le Chevalier.' 'Very well, then, go on, and remember what I have said.' He turned and stepped forwards; 'This way, and mind the branches overhead,' and we entered the forest, my horse leaping a shallow ditch that separated it from the grass land. We took a soft turf-covered path, overhung by branches, and went on for about fifty paces before coming to a halt, which we did in a small irregular patch of trees that lay in the full flood of the moonlight. In the darkness beyond I heard the gentle murmur of a small spring, and then the distinct movement of a heavy body and the clink of iron. My hand reached to my holster in a flash, but Nicholas saw the gesture, and said, 'It is the horse. A moment, monsieur,' and lifting up the curtain of leaves beside him, from which, as he did so, the dew fell in a soft shower, he dived into the thicket, to reappear again leading the long black length of his horse. It struck me at once that the beast was of uncommon size, and this, and the white star on its forehead, brought to my mind the recollection of de Rone's great English charger, Couronne. '_Harnibleu!_' I burst out; 'you seem to be in the lowest water, and here you have a horse worth a hundred pistoles at the least!' 'Did you see her by daylight, monsieur, you would know that twice a hundred pistoles would not purchase her. Do you not know her, M. le Chevalier? This is Couronne, M. de Rone's charger!' 'Couronne! I thought so. And how the devil do you come by her?' 'Her reins were in the wind when I caught her; a fair prize of war, and M. de Rone will never need her more. Since I got her she has saved me twice, and if I can help it we shall never part.'