“Stand up.  I am not going to hurt you,” Desmond said.  “Lead us, at once, to the chamber of the lady we heard call out.”

The old woman rose slowly, took down a key hanging from a peg, and, leading the way upstairs, opened a door.

“Keep a watch upon the crone,” Desmond said, as he entered.

As he did so, his eye fell upon a girl of some seventeen years old.  She was standing at the window, with her hands clasped.  She turned round as he entered, and, as her eye fell upon his uniform, she gave a cry of delight.

“Ah, monsieur, you have rescued me!  I heard the fight in the garden, and knew that the good God had sent someone to my aid.  But you are wounded, sir.  Your face is streaming with blood.”

“’Tis but the graze of a pistol ball,” he said, “and needs but a bowl of water, and a strip of plaster, to put it right.  I had well-nigh forgotten it.

“I am glad, indeed, to have been able to render you this service, mademoiselle.  It was most providential that I happened to come along the road, and heard your screams and cries for aid; and I determined to see if any foul business was being carried on here.  What made you call out?”

“I had let myself down from the window, by knotting the bedclothes together.  I was blindfolded, when they carried me in here, and did not know that the walls were so high all round, but had hoped to find some gate by which I might escape.  There were only the great gates, and these were locked; and I was trying to draw the bolts when two of the men suddenly rushed out.  I suppose the old woman came up here, and found the room empty.  It was then that I screamed for help, but they dragged me in, in spite of my struggles, and one said I might scream as much as I liked, for there was not a house within hearing, and no one would be passing anywhere near.

“When he said that, I quite gave up hope.  I had believed that I was in some lonely house, in the suburbs of the city, and I little thought that my cries could not be heard.

“But where are the men who guarded me?”

“Four of them are dead, mademoiselle, and the other securely bound.  Now, if you will tell me who you are, and where your friends live, I and my soldier servant will escort you to them.”

“My name is Anne de Pointdexter.”

Desmond was scarcely surprised, for the care which had been taken in choosing so lonely a spot for her concealment, and the fact that an officer and four men should be placed there to guard her, showed that she must have been regarded as a prisoner of importance.

“Then I am glad, indeed, to have been the means of rescuing you.  All Paris has been talking of your disappearance, for the past ten days.  The question is, what would you wish done?  It is too far to take you to Versailles tonight, and too late to obtain means of conveyance.”

“There is a carriage in the stables behind the house, and there are some horses.  I cannot say how many, but at night I have heard them stamping.  I suppose the carriage was left here so that they could remove me to some other place, in case suspicion should fall upon this house.  How many are there of you, monsieur?”