She glanced at me, and I thought I saw signs of relenting in her eyes.
“Come, Louise,” cried the duchess, “we must go. It was not to see the ‘Œdipe’ that we came here. We have accomplished our mission and must return.”
“Till to-morrow, then,” I whispered to Louise as the ladies arose, and I fancied that she gave a slight affirmative nod of the head. I would have accompanied them, but the princess waved me back, and I returned to my box to witness the remainder of the play. It moved me strongly, and I was still thinking over its stirring periods as I reached the quays and crossed the river. As I turned down the Quai Malaquest I fancied I heard footsteps behind me, but when I turned, saw no one. The street was very dark, the candles, which swung here and there in lanterns twenty feet above the roadway, having been extinguished by a gust of rain earlier in the evening and no attempt having been made to relight them.
I was stumbling on over the uneven pavement, when suddenly half a dozen shadows detached themselves from the wall in front of me, and at the same instant I heard hastening footsteps in my rear. Before I could draw my sword, or even, in fact, appreciate my danger, a dozen men threw themselves upon me. A gag was thrust into my mouth, a scarf bound over my eyes, my hands and feet were tied, and in a moment I was helpless. Some one was searching my pockets.
“Some more of the Cartouche gang,” I thought.
“Handle him as gently as possible,” I heard a voice say. “Now two of you lift him and bring him along.”
I was lifted from the pavement and borne along for some distance. Then I was placed in a carriage, which was driven rapidly through the streets. It rumbled across a bridge, stopped, and I heard a sentry’s challenge.
“The Bastille again,” I groaned to myself.
The carriage drove on and then came to a sudden stop. I was lifted out and carried into a room, the door of which I heard closed after me.
“Untie him,” commanded a voice, and in a moment my hands and feet were free, the gag was taken from my mouth and the scarf whisked from my eyes. A man of middle age in the uniform of an officer of the guards stood before me.