“Thank you, master.  I will go out tomorrow morning and choose my stone, and then when it begins to get dark I will go out and bury my money there.  It would not do to hide it in the daytime, for even were there no one on the road someone upon the hills might catch sight of me and come down afterwards to see what I was disposing of.”

“Well, I think that that is the best thing that you can do, Paolo.  There is certainly a danger in leaving it in anyone’s hands, for when you return to claim it, perhaps some years hence, you might find that he was dead, or the place might be captured and burned down.  Yes, I think that hiding it is the safest way.  You will be pleased to hear that the general has given me a commission as captain.”

“That is good news, indeed,” the boy said.  “I was just going to ask, master, what he had done for you, because, though I went with you, it was you who planned the business, and I only did as you told me.”

“You had something to do with the planning, too, Paolo.  However, I think that we may both feel well content with the rewards that we have obtained for two days’ work.”

As Hector went out he met de Lisle and Chavigny.

“Well met!” the former exclaimed.  “We have just left the general, and he has told us what you have done, and that he has made you a captain in consequence.  We were just coming to look for you to carry you off to supper in honour of your promotion.”

“You deserve it, if anyone ever did, there is no doubt of that,” Chavigny said heartily.  “We are quite proud of our comrade.”

“It seems absurd that I should be a captain.”

“Not absurd at all,” Chavigny said.  “Turenne was a captain when he was a year younger than you are, and there is many a noble who has been made a colonel before he ever drew sword in battle.”

Hector was much pleased at the evidently genuine congratulations of his companions.  He had indeed rather feared that they would take his promotion ill; being nearly five years his senior, and having served in two previous campaigns, they might well feel hurt at his being promoted while they still remained only lieutenants.  The young nobles indeed felt no shade of jealousy.  It was but of late that there had been a regular army, for the nobles still brought their tenants and retainers to the field and supported them at their own expense.

To de Lisle and Chavigny these grades of military rank were of no account whatever.  The rank of colonel would add in no way to their position as members of noble families.  They fought for honour, and against the enemies of France.  They were always addressed by their family name, and would both have resented being called lieutenant.  They were proud of being Turenne’s aides-de-camp, but had no thought of remaining in the army after the war was over, as they would then resume their place at court.  They had both taken a strong liking to their young comrade, whose manner of thought differed so widely from their own.  They appreciated the merits of the action of which their general had spoken in such warm terms, and the fact that in point of military rank he was now above them concerned them in no way.  It was a merry supper at the best hotel in Susa.