She looked at him a moment, at loss for a reply, but not disapprovingly. Before she could speak, there came a loud pounding at the rear door. The old servant, who had locked it after Dick's entrance, now returned to it to open it again. "I think that is a party of troops in search of me," said Dick, quietly, to Catherine. "I came to Quebec on a secret mission for the United Colonies, and I have been discovered." "_Mon Dieu!_" exclaimed Catherine, suddenly showing deep concern. "Don't open the door, Antoine! Do you mean, sir," turning to Dick, "that, if you were caught, you would be--" "Hanged, probably," said Dick, seeing out of the corner of his eye that the servant had stepped aside from the door without unlocking it. The knock was repeated, more loudly. Catherine looked distressed and perplexed. "They will be let in, eventually," she said, in a whisper, "for my uncle will hear them, and come to see what is the matter. You must hide till they go!" "They will search the house," replied Dick. She stood thinking, for a few seconds. "There is one room they shall not enter," she said. "Come!" She went swiftly up the wide staircase, Dick following at her elbow. At the first landing, which was visible from the front part of the hall, she pushed back a door, whereupon Dick, obeying her look, stepped into a chamber that had a window at the farther end, as could be known by the faint whiteness there, and by the sound of snowflakes pelting the panes. Dick stopped at the threshold to say, "But the servant?" "He is faithful to me," she whispered from the landing. At that moment the knocking again sounded, this time with angry violence. There came from the parlor a young gentleman whom Dick, looking through the chamber doorway and down the first flight of stairs, recognized as Catherine's brother, and who said to the servant: "What is that knocking, Antoine? My uncle wonders why you don't go to the door." "I have been busy elsewhere, Monsieur Gerard," said the old servant; and then he could be heard turning the lock. A moment later there came the sound of men rushing in, and then the voice of Lieutenant Blagdon, saying, loudly and angrily: "What the devil has come over this house, Gerard, that it opens so easily to rebel spies, and stays closed all night against the King's troops?" Before the astonished Gerard could reply, another gentleman appeared from the parlor, attracted by the noisy arrival of Blagdon and the troops. He appeared to be about sixty, but he carried his tall figure stiffly erect, and his eyes were bright and keen. He held a hand of playing cards, and his face still wore a smile, which was rather that of heartless gaiety than of kindly merriment. Behind him, in the doorway, appeared other gentlemen and a few ladies, these last standing on their toes to see what was the disturbance. "What is going on, Lieutenant Blagdon?" demanded the old gentleman.