"At the head of your bed, behind a curtain upon which are embroidered the arms of the lords of Cambes, to whom Île Saint-Georges formerly belonged,--Monsieur le Vicomte de Cambes, my late husband, presented it to the king,--you will find a door to which this is the key. It is one of the entrances to an extensive underground passage which passes beneath the bed of the river, and comes out at the manor of Cambes. Persuade Mademoiselle Nanon de Lartigues to fly through that passage--and, if you love her, fly with her. "I answer for her safety upon my honor. "Adieu. We are quits. "VICOMTESSE DE CAMBES." Canolles read and re-read the letter, shivering with fear at every word, growing paler with every reading; he felt that a mysterious power, which he could not fathom, enveloped him, and directed his actions. Might not this same underground passage, from his bedroom to the Château de Cambes, which was to serve to assure Nanon's safety, serve equally well, if the secret were generally known, to deliver Saint-Georges to the enemy? Vibrac followed, upon the governor's expressive features, the emotions which were reflected there. "Bad news, commandant?" he asked. "Yes, it seems that we are to be attacked again to-night." "The fanatics!" said Vibrac. "I should have supposed we had given them a sufficient dressing-down, and were not likely to hear of them again for a week at least." "I have no need to enjoin the strictest watchfulness upon you," said Canolles. "Have no fear, commandant. Probably they will try to surprise us, as they did before?" "I have no idea; but let us be ready for anything, and take the same precautions that we took before. Finish my round of inspection for me; I must go to my room; I have some orders to give." Vibrac touched his hat and strode away with the soldierly indifference to danger often exhibited by those whose profession brings them face to face with it at every step. Canolles went to his room, taking every possible precaution not to be seen by Nanon; and having made sure that he was alone, locked himself in. At the head of his bed were the arms of the lords of Cambes, upon a tapestry hanging surrounded by a band of gold. Canolles raised the band, which was not attached to the tapestry, and disclosed the crack of a door. With the aid of the key which accompanied the viscountess's letter, he opened the door, and found himself confronted by the gaping orifice of a subterranean passage. For a moment Canolles was struck dumb, and stood motionless, with the sweat pouring from his brow. This mysterious opening into the bowels of the earth terrified him in spite of himself. He lighted a candle and prepared to inspect it. First, he descended twenty steep stairs, then kept on down a gentler slope farther and farther into the depths.