“Alas, I am beginning to know it, now that it is too late.  And he was ill when I stole away to-night.  I implore you, take me back to the castle!” she pleaded, her heart wrung by the anguish in her soul.

“So he is in the castle, eh?  Just as I thought.  I’d like to take you to him, especially as he is ill, but I must take care of number one.  When I dropped out of one villain’s employment I went into business for myself.  You see, there is about 100,000 francs reward for you, and there is the same for the bodies of the abductors.  If I turn you over to your mother or her agents—­not the prince, by the way—­I earn the reward.  If I can procure the arrest of your abductors I get double the amount.  You see how unbusiness-like it would be if I were to let my sympathies get the better of me.”

“But I will give you 100,000 francs if you will take me back to the castle,” she cried, standing before him.

“Have you the money with you?”

“Of course I have not, but it shall be yours as soon as I can—­”

“Pardon.  You are worth nothing to me in that castle, and you will bring a fortune in Brussels.”

In vain she pleaded with the stubborn detective, finally threatening him with dire punishment if he refused to accede to her demands.  Then he arose in sudden wrath, cursing her roundly and vowing she should not leave the room alive if she persisted in such threats.  He told her that she was in a cave beneath the ruins of an old church, long the haunt of robbers, now the home of snakes and bats.  Indeed, as he spoke a flittermouse scurried through the air within a foot of her ear.

“We rest here until to-morrow night, and then we start out to walk.  You cannot be seen in that dress, either.  I have clothing here in this box for you to wear.  My dear young lady, you must make believe that you are my younger brother for a day or two, at least.”

A look of horror came into her face, succeeded by the deep red of insulted modesty, and then the white of indignation.

“I will die first, you wretch!” she exclaimed.  In that moment she believed she could have killed the smiling rogue with her own hands.

“We shall see,” he said, roughly.  “Look at them; they are respectable in cut and they are clean.”  He drew the garments from the box, piece by piece, and held them before her flaming face.  “I’m going out to take a look about the valley.  You are quite safe here.  No one knows where you are, and the robbers have been dead for twenty years.  One of them still has his skeleton in the room just off this one, but he is a harmless old fellow.  In an hour I will return, and we will eat.  It is now three o’clock, and the sun will soon be rising.  To-night we venture forth as brothers, remember.”

He pulled his cap down over his eyes, buttoned his coat about his throat, changed a revolver from one pocket to another, and deliberately stalked across the room to the narrow door.  An instant later she heard the key rasp in the lock and she was alone.