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252 "He told us his life had been attempted, charged the Duchess with having been a party to the escape, vowed that he would have the truth out of us and make us pay bitterly in his revenge. The Duchess is a noble woman and showed splendid courage and dignity; but oh, monsieur, I was never so frightened in my life."

"But he has not actually ill-treated you; surely, he is not so base as that."

"He vows that unless the prisoners and Gabrielle are in his hands within twenty-four hours he will put me to the question; and he ordered me not to leave the Castle and placed me in charge of one of his own officers. But he shall kill me before I will say a word."

"You shall do better than that, mademoiselle; you shall leave the Castle. But where is your gaoler?"

The suspicion of a smile hovered about her lips for a moment, and her eyes lighted as she answered—

"I will tell you that directly, monsieur. When the Duke had terrified us in this fashion he called in his men, and actually had the whole apartments of the Duchess searched. Oh, it was shameful! Even the rough soldiers themselves were ashamed of their task, and hurried it. And when he found nothing, there being nothing to find, he grew even more violent, and taunted and insulted that noble woman till my heart ached for her and my blood boiled at his cowardice and brutality. And when at last he left us, it was only to send message after message telling of the steps he had taken to recapture the prisoners; with lie after lie; first that they had been taken, then that they were dead—any tale which could serve to frighten us, coward that he is. But I have managed to learn the truth in spite of him, monsieur."

"Through your gaoler?" he asked quickly.

"Yes, monsieur. He put me in the care of Antoine de Cavannes," said Lucette demurely.

"And who is Antoine de Cavannes?"