'Ah! M. Arthur, I overheard some one say you were on duty here.'
'At your service, mademoiselle,' I replied, while my heart beat rapidly on recognising my little masker of the Place de la Grève, Nicola, the attendant of the Countess; 'but why are you alone here, and at this time of night?'
'Why was I alone that night in the Quai de la Grève?'
'I know not; you are a charming enigma, Nicola; but twelve will strike shortly. Ah! mademoiselle, if you have a lover!'
'I have been at the masque in the Hotel de Bourbon; I have been close to the Cardinal twenty times, and heard him discuss some notable projects with the Chevalier Hepburn and the Duke de Lavalette.'
'Projects—concerning what?'
'The war in Lorraine.'
'Then your information will be of considerable value to my friend, M. le Chevalier d'Ische,' said I, angrily.
'Hush!' said she, haughtily, and with alarm, while she cast a rapid glance over the mighty mass of the Louvre; 'it is not of d'Ische, but of yourself I came to speak.'
'A thousand thanks, dear mademoiselle,' said I, surveying with a new emotion of pleasure her beautiful golden hair, which shone beneath her veil, in the lamp that swung in the archway above me.