The Sheriff, wiping his heated brow, now read the formal _proces_ delivering over the prisoner to the executioner's hands; "and a nice job we've had to get him here," he added on his own account. And the young man, who had remained perfectly tractable since his arrival, stepped forward and bowed politely. "Now that we have been properly introduced," said he courteously, "allow me to apologise for any inconvenience you have been put to by my delay. The fault was entirely mine, and these gentlemen are in no way to blame. Had I known whom I was to have the pleasure of meeting, wings could not have conveyed me swiftly enough." "Do not mention, I pray, the word inconvenience," replied Jeanne, with that timid grace which so well became her. "I only trust that any slight discomfort it may be my duty to cause you before we part will be as easily pardoned. And now--for the morning, alas! advances--any little advice or assistance that I can offer is quite at your service; for the situation is possibly new, and you may have had but little experience." "Faith! none worth mentioning," said the prisoner gaily. "Treat me as a raw beginner. Though our acquaintance has been but brief, I have the utmost confidence in you." "Then, sir," said Jeanne, blushing, "suppose I were to assist you in removing this gay doublet, so as to give both of us more freedom and less responsibility?" "A perquisite of the office?" queried the prisoner with a smile, as he slipped one arm out of its sleeve. A flush came over Jeanne's fair brow. "That was ungenerous," she said. "Nay, pardon me, sweet one," said he, laughing: "'twas but a poor jest of mine--in bad taste, I willingly admit." [Illustration: "Nay pardon me, sweet one, 'twas but a jest of mine."] "I was sure you did not mean to hurt me," she replied kindly, while her fingers were busy in turning back the collar of his shirt. It was composed, she noticed, of the finest point lace; and she could not help a feeling of regret that some slight error--as must, from what she knew, exist somewhere--should compel her to take a course so at variance with her real feelings. Her only comfort was that the youth himself seemed entirely satisfied with his situation. He hummed the last air from Paris during her ministrations, and when she had quite finished, kissed the pretty fingers with a metropolitan grace. "And now, sir," said Jeanne, "if you will kindly come this way: and please to mind the step--so. Now, if you will have the goodness to kneel here--nay, the sawdust is perfectly clean; you are my first client this morning. On the other side of the block you will find a nick, more or less adapted to the human chin, though a perfect fit cannot, of course, be guaranteed in every case. So! Are you pretty comfortable?" "A bed of roses," replied the prisoner. "And what a really admirable view one gets of the valley and the river, from just this particular point!"