The nobleman's face changed; his gaze, as if fascinated, now rested on a score of rough figures who, following the order, so unexpected and startling, sprang simultaneously from neighboring thicket or covert, and advanced to surround them. Held by their grim aspect--the desperate determined visages; the black, threatening looks--in the surprise of the moment, too late my lord's hand sought the sword at his side. Roughly plucked from his horse, he found himself flung to the sward; unceremoniously pinioned, and heard the voice of my lady raised in his behalf. CHAPTER XXIX THE MARQUIS INTERVENES The evening of the same day, his Excellency, in the seclusion of a small private chamber adjoining the _salle du gouvernement_, stood looking down at his desk on which were strewn papers and messages containing the latest news from Paris and received at the Mount but a few hours before. That the character of this information, political and social, was little to his liking, seemed manifest from his manner; he stared at the missives resentfully; then frowned and threw down the pen he had been using to mark, or make note of, their contents. "Versailles--a mob! Sugar-plums to placate them! Sugar-plums!" he repeated; and, impatiently turning away, walked to the window. There for some time he stood peering out, when, the current of his thoughts slowly changing, he took from his pocket a watch, and examined the jeweled face. "Time they were back!" About to return to his table and task, a loud knocking arrested the impulse, and testily the Governor called out; glanced toward the threshold and surveyed the intruder. "A message from the commandant, your Excellency!" said the man, a trooper of the Mount, with a respectful, though nervous salute. "Why," returned the Governor in a dry tone, "didn't he bring it himself?" "Because," the trooper shifted; looked away; "because Monsieur le Commandant is engaged in scouring the country for miscreants, your Excellency." "Miscreants!" sharply. "What miscreants?" "Monsieur le Commandant hopes to overtake those who have carried off the Lady Elise," said the messenger hurriedly, in the tone of one anxious to be done with his task. "Carried off!" The thin figure wavered as if struck by a cold breath. "Carried off!" he repeated, laying his hand on the back of the chair. "By a band of the Black Seigneur's men! His lordship, the Marquis, they left behind bound and secured, but the Lady Elise they took with them." For some time his Excellency said nothing; like a ghost of himself, leaned hard against his support and looked at the trooper. "But how could it have happened?" at length in a voice, low, intense, he inquired. "Monsieur le Commandant! The guard--you--all are alive?" Stumblingly, as best he could, the soldier explained, and when he had done, his Excellency made no sign that he had heard.