“Yes, I think I have every right to consider myself exceptionally fortunate.”

“You may have been fortunate, Kennedy,” O’Sullivan remarked.  “The thing is, that you took advantage of the opportunities.  You threw yourself into the first adventure that came your way, rescued a lovely damsel in distress, and her gratitude and that of her father attracted the king’s notice, and gained that ring on your finger.  In the next place, after escaping from the ruffians who attacked the coach—­principally, as it seems, by cutting down their leader, and so occupying the attention of his followers—­you instantly took the resolution to attempt to rescue him and his daughter, and succeeded in doing so.  Another man might have stopped at Moulins, congratulating himself that he had escaped from the trap, and lamenting that he could do nothing towards again rescuing this damsel from her abductors.  Of course, it was a piece of good fortune, meeting de la Vallee’s men at Roanne; but I have no doubt that, if you had not done so, you would still have got to Pointdexter, gathered a force, and intercepted the vicomte’s party.”

“It would have been a very near thing, O’Sullivan.  Changing horse at every post, I might have got to Pointdexter from Roanne in twenty-four hours; but I doubt whether, even allowing that no time was lost in getting the men together, I could have got to Tulle before them.  They had but one hundred and fifty miles to travel, I should have had still farther; and, as they would have had three days’ start, they should have been there before me; for I heard from the baron that, in addition to the four horses in the coach, they had four others, ridden by troopers, fastened to it where the road was bad.”

“What would you have done if they had got to the vicomte’s chateau—­it is, I believe, a strong place—­before you could intercept them?”

“I cannot say what I should have done.  I thought the matter over and over again as we rode.  It seemed absurd to think of attacking a chateau with only twelve men; and besides, it would have been a very serious business to assault a noble in his own castle.  There would almost certainly be twenty or thirty men there, at the least, and the ringing of the alarm bell would have brought all his vassals within five miles round to his aid, at once.  I have no doubt that I should have attempted something, but in what way I could form no idea, until I saw the place.”

The two young men laughed.

“I believe that you would have succeeded somehow, Kennedy,” O’Neil said.  “After what you have done, I have an almost unlimited faith in you, and if you told me you could see no other plan than carrying off His Gracious Majesty, and taking him down to Tulle and forcing him to order this rascal vicomte to deliver up his captives, you would accomplish it.”

Desmond laughed.

“The plan might be as good as another, though I own that it had not occurred to me; but it would certainly necessitate my having him held prisoner until I had got safely out of France, otherwise my fate would assuredly be to be broken on the wheel.”