All chance of passing under false colors was now gone. A battle with thrice our force seemed imminent. What would befall Julie if they should be too much for us? The thought made me sick with horror. At that instant I remembered something.
"Halt!" I cried to the men. "I shall return in a moment, sweetheart. Monsieur, the captain," and I rode forward towards the leader of the governor's troops, "your informant speaks truly. Permit me to introduce myself. I am the Sieur de la Tournoire, the person named in that order." With which I politely handed him the pass that I had forced from La Chatre, which I had for a time forgotten.
It was about three hours after midnight, and the moon was not yet very low. The captain, taken by surprise in several respects, mechanically grasped the document and read it.
"It is a—a pass," he said, presently, staring at it and at me in a bewildered manner.
"As you see, for myself and all my company," said I; "signed by M. de la Chatre."
"Yes, it is his signature."
"His seal, also, you will observe."
"I do. Yet, it is strange. Certain orders that I have received,—in fact, orders to which I have just been attending,—make this very surprising. I cannot understand—"
"It is very simple. While you were attending to your orders, I was making a treaty with M. de la Chatre. In accordance with it, he wrote the pass. He will, doubtless, relate the purport of our interview as soon as you return to the château. I know that he is impatient for your coming. Therefore, since you have seen the pass, I shall not detain you longer."
"But—I do not know—it is, indeed, the writing of M. de la Chatre—it seems quite right, yet monsieur, since all is right, you will not object to returning with me to the château that M. de la Chatre may verify his pass?"