out my purse to pay this demand. My hands
were cold, my head was giddy, my sight was
dim, and, as I brought out my purse (which
was a porte-monnaie, opening with a hinge), I
managed while paying the bill to turn the purse
over and to drop some gold pieces.

"Gold!" cried the boy who had been helping
me to harness the horse: speaking as if by an
irresistible impulse.

The landlord made a sudden dart at it, but
instantly checked himself.

"People want plenty of gold," he said, "when
they make a journey of pleasure."

I felt myself getting worse. I could not pick
up the gold pieces as they lay on the ground. I
fell on my knees, and my head bowed forward.
I could not hit the place where a coin lay; I
could see it but I could not guide my fingers to
it. Still I did not yield. I got some of the
money up, and the stable-boy, who was very
officious in assisting me, gave me one or two pieces
—to this day, I don't know how many he kept.
I cast a hasty glance around, and, seeing no
more gold on the ground, raised myself by a
desperate effort and scrambled to my place in
the carriage. I shook the reins instinctively,
and the mare began to move.

The well-trained beast was beginning to trot
away as cleverly as usual, when a thought
suddenly flashed into my brain, as will sometimes
happen when we are just going to sleep—a
thought which woke me up like a pistol-shot,
and caused me to spring forward and gather up
the reins so violently as almost to bring the
mare back upon her haunches.

"My dog, my dear little Nelly!" I had left her
behind!

To abandon my little favourite was a thing that
never entered my head. "No, I must return. I
must go back to the horrible place I have just
escaped from. He has seen my gold, too, now,"
I said to myself, as I turned my horse's head
with many clumsy efforts; "the men who were
drinking in the auberge are gone; and, what
is worse than all, I feel more under the
influence of the drugs I have swallowed."

As I approached the auberge once more, I
remember noticing that its walls looked blacker
than ever, that the rain was falling more heavily,
that the landlord and the stable-boy were on
the steps of the inn, evidently on the look-out
for me. One thing more I noticed; on the road
a small speck, as of some vehicle nearing the
place.

"I have come back for my dog," said I.

"I know nothing of your dog."

"It is false! I left her shut up in the inner
room."

"Go there and find her, then," retorted the
man, throwing off all disguise.

"I will," was my answer.

I knew it was a trap to get me into the
house; I knew I was lost if I entered it; but I
did not care. I descended from the carriage, I
clambered up the steps with the aid of the
banisters, I heard the barking of my little Nelly
as I passed through the outer room and
approached the glass-doors, steadying myself as
I went by the articles of furniture in the room.
I burst the doors open, and my favourite
bounded into my arms.

And now I felt that it was too late. As I
approached the door that opened to the road, I
saw my carriage being led round to the back of
the house, and the form of the landlord
appeared in the doorway blocking up the passage.
I made an effort to push past him, but it was
useless. My little Nelly fell out of my arm on
the steps outside: the landlord slammed the door
heavily; and I fell, without sense or knowledge,
at his feet.

              *         *         *         *         *

It was dark, Gentlemen,—dark and very cold.
The little patch of sky I was looking up at, had
in it a marvellous number of stars, which would
have looked bright but for a blazing planet which
seemed to eclipse, in the absence ol the moon, all
the other luminaries round about it. To lie thus,
was in spite of the cold, quite a luxurious sensation.
As I turned my head to ease it a little (for
it seemed to have been in this position some
time), I felt stiff and weak. At this moment,
too, I feel a stirring close beside me, and
first a cold nose touching my hand, and then a
hot tongue licking it. As to my other sensations,
I was aware of a gentle rumbling sound, and I
could feel that I was being carried slowly along,
and that every now and then there was a slight
jolt: one of which, perhaps, more marked than
the rest, might be the cause of my being awake
at all.

Presently, other matters began to dawn upon
my mind through the medium of my senses. I
could see the regular movement of a horse's ears
walking in front of me; surely I saw, too,
part of the figure of a man—a pair of sturdy
shoulders, the hood of a coat, and a head with a
wide-awake hat upon it. I could hear the occasional
sounds of encouragement which seemed to
emanate from this figure, and which were
addressed to the horse. I could hear the tinkling
of bells upon the animal's neck. Surely, too,
I heard a rumbling sound behind us, and the
tread of a horse's feet just as if there were
another vehicle following close upon us. Was there
anything more? Yes, in the distance I was
able to detect the twinkling of. a light or two,
as if a town were not far off.

Now, Gentlemen, as I Iay and observed all these
things, there was such a languor shed over my
spirits, such a sense of utter but not unpleasant
weakness, that I hardly cared to ask myself
what it all meant, or to inquire where I was, or
how I came there. A conviction that all was
well with me, lay like an anodyne upon my
heart, and it was only slowly and gradually
that any curiosity as to how I came to be so,
developed itself in my brain. I dare say we had
been jogging along for a quarter of an hour
during which I had been perfectly conscious,
before I struggled up into a sitting posture,
and recognised the hooded back of the man at
the horse's head.

"Dufay?"