"Your Ladyship!" After knocking in vain, Marie had entered the room and set down the small tray she carried. "There is something your Ladyship ought to know!" with an air of excitement. The Governor's daughter half turned. "What now, Marie?" she said sharply. "It's about Nanette!" My lady made a quick movement of annoyance, impatience. "I did not tell your Ladyship, but I was averse to having her remain here. Your Ladyship does not understand, of course, and--" "I do understand," said my lady unexpectedly. "And--you need not explain. I overheard you talking with her that night of the banquet!" "Your Ladyship!" startled. "And I heard you speak of her father, Pierre Laroche, friend of the Black Seigneur." "And engaged her--after that!" "Why not? I could watch--and I have! But you were wrong, Marie." My lady's manner was feverish. "Your suspicions were ridiculous. There has been nothing--nothing! And day after to-morrow is the wedding celebration, and the next day, he, the Black Seigneur--" She broke off abruptly. Had Marie been less wrought up, less excited, less concerned with the information she had to impart, she could not have failed to notice the odd break in her young mistress' voice; something unusual, almost akin to despair, in her manner. As it was, that which weighed on the old nurse's mind precluded close observation of the other. "But something _has_ happened, my Lady!" the woman half stammered. "_Comment!_" The girl turned to her sharply. "What? Explain, Marie!" Disconnectedly, the woman launched into a narration of the events of the night before; my lady listened closely, with an interest and excitement she strove to conceal, half turning so that the other saw no longer her face. "And here," ended Marie, extending a crumpled fragment of paper, "is a piece of the note she dropped on the beach. The man tore it up, but in thrusting the bits of paper into his pocket this fell out, and, after he walked away, I picked it up myself from the sand. I can't read, as your Ladyship knows, and there isn't much on it--only a word or two! But it may tell something." My lady's face was now composed; the hand she extended, steady; for several moments she regarded the fragment. "What does it say?" asked the woman anxiously. "Is it--is it important?" Her mistress did not at once answer; twisting the bit of paper in her fingers, stood as if in thought, and the old nurse repeated her question. "This note might have been intended for some admirer!" said, at length, the Governor's daughter slowly. "He looked more like an old privateersman!" murmured the woman. "And there may be some plot--some plan!" "Privateersman!" The girl's manner underwent a change; she shrugged her shoulders. "What could they hope to do at the Mount! You are imaginative, Marie!" lightly. "Nanette is good-looking, and what little is here would seem to signify a rendezvous. There may be no great harm in that."