'You mean Mademoiselle de Lorraine?'
'Marie Louise—yes.'
'And you are her foster-brother?'
'Yes, monsieur; my mother nursed her; I have taught mademoiselle to ride; to throw off a falcon, and to shoot with the arbalest à jallet, as we name a little crossbow for throwing clay pellets. Were not such tasks a happiness?'
'M. René, I envy you; but what seek you here?' I asked, with suspicion.
'I sought you, M. Blane, and I am happy to find that you are not gone. Are you not afraid of being robbed in this solitary place.'
'I am afraid of nothing, M. René; fifty crowns are all I possess in the world.'
'But one's skin is of some value, and that may be perilled in these woods among wolves and outlaws.'
'To the point, M. le Chevalier de Malta,' said I, suspiciously; 'it was not merely to tell me all this you sought me. Perhaps you bring a message from Wolfgang Count Pappenheim? If so——'
'What then?'