"Very good. We will make him a colonel in our army if he is only a captain, and a brigadier-general if he is only a colonel; for he is faithful to us, I presume?" "He was at Lens, madame," Claire replied with a craft in which she had lately become proficient by virtue of her diplomatic experiences. "Excellent! Now there is but one thing left for me to learn," said the princess. "What is that, madame?" "The name of the very fortunate gentleman who already possesses the heart, and will soon possess the hand, of the loveliest warrior in my whole army." Claire, driven into her last intrenchments, was summoning all her courage to pronounce the name of Canolles, when suddenly they heard a horse gallop into the court-yard, and in another moment the confused murmur of many voices, indicating the arrival of important news. The princess ran to the window. A courier, begrimed with dust and reeking with perspiration, had just leaped from his horse, and was surrounded by a number of persons, to whom he seemed to be giving the details of some occurrence; and as the words fell from his lips, his listeners were overwhelmed with grief and consternation. The princess could not contain her curiosity, but opened the window and called: "Let him come up!" The messenger looked up, recognized the princess, and darted to the stairway. In a few moments he was ushered into her apartment, covered with mud as he was, with disordered hair, and a hoarse, parched voice. "Pray pardon me, your Highness," said he, "for appearing before you in my present condition! But I am the bearer of news at the mere utterance of which doors give way; Vayres has capitulated!" The princess started back; Claire let her arms fall despairingly; Lenet, who entered behind the messenger, turned pale. Five or six other persons, who had so far forgotten the respect due the princess as to invade her chamber, were stricken dumb with dismay. "Monsieur Ravailly," said Lenet,--for the messenger was no other than our captain of Navailles,--"repeat what you said, for I find it hard to credit." "I say again, monsieur: Vayres has capitulated!" "Capitulated!" echoed the princess; "what of the reinforcements you led thither?" "We arrived too late, madame! Richon was in the act of surrendering at the very moment of our arrival." "Richon surrendered!" cried Madame la Princesse; "the coward!" This exclamation sent a shiver down the back of everybody who heard it; but all remained mute, save Lenet. "Madame," said he, sternly, heedless of wounding Madame de Condé's pride, "do not forget that the honor of men is at the mercy of princes, as their lives are in the hands of God. Do not brand with the name of coward the bravest of your servants, unless you would see all the most faithful abandon you to-morrow, when they see how you treat their fellows, leaving you alone, accursed and lost." "Monsieur!" exclaimed the princess.