"Yes, my Lady. He was caught sight of among the peasants, at the time the barrels were opened, in accordance with your Ladyship's command. I assure your Ladyship," with growing eagerness, "there can be no mistake, as--" "Who," interrupted my lady sharply, "_is_ this Black Seigneur?" Beppo's manner changed. "A man," he said solemnly, "his Excellency, the Governor, has long been most anxious to capture." The girl's eyes flashed with impatience, and then she began to laugh. "Saw you ever, my Lords and Ladies, his equal for equivocation? You put to him the question direct, and he answers--" The loud report of a carbine from the other side of the Mount, followed by a desultory volley, interrupted her. The laughter died on her lips; the color left her cheek. "What--" The startled look in her eyes completed the sentence. Beppo rubbed his hands softly. "His Excellency takes no chances!" he murmured. CHAPTER VI A MESSENGER FOR MY LADY "So you failed to capture him, Monsieur le Commandant?" The speaker, the Marquis de Beauvillers, leaned more comfortably back in his chair in the small, rather barely furnished barracks' sitting-room in which he found himself later that night and languidly surveyed the florid, irate countenance of the man in uniform before him. "No, Monsieur le Marquis," said the latter, endeavoring to conceal any evidence of mortification or ill humor in the presence of a visitor so distinguished; "we didn't. But," as if to turn the conversation, with a gesture toward a well-laden table, "I should feel honored if--" "Thank you, no! After our repast on the beach--however, stand on no ceremony yourself. Nay, I insist--" "If Monsieur le Marquis insists!--" The commandant drew up his chair; then, reaching for a bottle, poured out a glass of wine, which he offered his guest. "No, no!" said the Marquis. "But as I remarked before, stand on no ceremony!" And daintily opening a snuff-box, he watched his host with an expression half-amused, half-ironical. That person ate and drank with little relish; the wine--so he said--had spoiled; and the dishes were without flavor; it was fortunate Monsieur le Marquis had no appetite-- Whereupon the Marquis smiled; but, considering the circumstances, in his own mind excused the commandant, who had only just come from the Governor's palace, and who, after the interview that undoubtedly had ensued, could hardly be expected to find the pâté palatable, or the wine to his liking. This, despite the complaisance of the young nobleman whom the commandant had encountered, while descending from the Governor's abode, and who, adapting his step to the other's had accompanied the officer back to his quarters, and graciously accepted an invitation to enter. "Well, you know the old saying," the Marquis closed the box with a snap, "'There's many a slip'--but how," airily brushing with his handkerchief imaginary particles from a long lace cuff, "did he get away?"