THE STORY OF VITEAU [Illustration: RAYMOND, LOUIS, AND THE PAGE RETURN TO VITEAU.] THE STORY OF VITEAU BY FRANK R. STOCKTON AUTHOR OF "A JOLLY FELLOWSHIP," "THE FLOATING PRINCE," ETC. _ILLUSTRATED_ NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1907 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ COPYRIGHT 1884 BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. RAYMOND, LOUIS AND THE PAGE RETURN TO VITEAU, (Frontispiece.) BERNARD, RAYMOND AND LOUIS MEET THE MONK, 9 LOUIS AND BERNARD ON THEIR WAY TO DEBARRAN'S CASTLE, 20 LOUIS, AGNES, AND THE FALCON, 29 LOUIS FINDS ONE OF THE HIGHWAYMEN A GOOD-NATURED FELLOW, 41 BERNARD TEACHING RAYMOND THE USE OF THE LONG SWORD, 50 BROTHER ANSELMO THREATENS BERNARD AND RAYMOND, 60 THE COUNTESS SENT FOR JASTO AND THANKED HIM WARMLY, 93 A SMALL WINDOW WAS OPENED, 97 AGNES TELLS RAYMOND AND LOUIS OF HER PLAN, 109 SIR HUGO AND SIR CHARLES CHARGE THE ROBBERS, 120 THE FLIGHT OF THE COUNTESS, 132 MICHOL WELCOMES THE COUNTESS, 136 AGNES MAKES A PLEA FOR THE MOTHER OF RAYMOND AND LOUIS, 141 THE ROBBERS IN THE OLD WOMAN'S COTTAGE, 160 THE ROBBERS IN THE HALLWAY WERE FORCED INTO THE COURT-YARD, 178 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Story of Viteau. CHAPTER I. BY the side of a small stream, which ran through one of the most picturesque portions of the province of Burgundy, in France, there sat, on a beautiful day in early summer, two boys, who were brothers. They had been bathing in the stream, and now, having dressed, they were talking together on the bank. Raymond, the elder, was about fourteen years old, and his brother Louis was some eighteen months younger. In form and feature, and in general disposition and character, they were not unlike many of the boys of our day, and yet these two young fellows lived more than six hundred years ago. They were dressed in simple tunics, one green, one brown, and wore short breeches, dark-colored stockings, and rather clumsy shoes. The two brothers were very busily engaged in conversation, for they had a great deal to say to each other, and not much time to say it in. On the next day Louis was going away from home, to be gone a long, long time.