17
your power; but I must leave this place instantly."—The lady, starting, exclaimed, "Leave this place instantly!"—"Yes, madam," replied the Count, "but I will return, after having fulfilled a duty not less sacred than that of gratitude. I have a friend, a fellow-soldier; all our dangers, all our pleasures, have been the same from our infancy. The King of Navarre owes his life to him as well as to me: you know how Charles D’Evreux has recompenced this service to me—the same return may attend my friend; it is to him, madam, I go, who may be in danger of being murdered by assassins." The lady, after complimenting him on his noblc principles, told him she granted him liberty to leave the cavern, provided he pledged his word of honour, that, in eight days, at the close of the evening, he would, with his friend, repair under the archway of the palace de Tournelles, and that both would follow the person who will produce a ring resembling the one she would give him. The Count de Nevers without hesitation plcdged his word of honour.
Drawing then a ring from her finger, she bade him take it, and observe that the name of Adelaide was engraved on it. It was the same as the one that would be shewn to him; and after bidding him remember his promise, she left the room. On her departure, the Negress entered, and desired him to follow her. He was led through a long obscure passage terminating in a door, which opened from the passage into an obscure dirty street. The Negress bade him farewell, and then shut the door. The Count, hurrying through the street, soon arrived at his hotel, which his friend also occupied. As soon as he got to the apartment of the Seur de Joinville, all the agitation and distress of the night were forgotten, in the joy which the friends experienced in again meeting.
