'We have met in Paris, perhaps?'
'Nay, monsieur, have you forgotten the night you spent at the little chapel of St. Nicolas in the Wood, near Nanci, and the narrow escape you had from the ambush formed by Pappenheim and De Bitche?—Do you remember who visited you there?'
'René, the foster-brother of Marie Louise?'
'René, the knight of Malta—yes—I am he.'
'Pardon me, my kind friend, for amid the confusion of such scenes as those of yesterday and to-day, together with your change of costume, and your paleness, it is not surprising that I did not at first recognise you. Nanci was sacked?'
'And the ducal palace destroyed.'
'Where now is duke Charles?'
'Alas! we know not.'
'Vaudemont?'
'A fugitive with the remains of his garrison on the German side of the Rhine.'