the poverty even of his country's most stately scenery, looked on
a scene, which art and nature seemed to have vied in adorning with their richest
splendour. But he was recalled to the business of the moment by the voice of the
elder lady (pitched at least an octave higher than those soft tones which bid
adieu to King Louis), demanding to speak with the leader of the band. Spurring
his horse forward, Quentin respectfully presented himself to the ladies in that
capacity, and thus underwent the interrogatories of the Lady Hameline.
    »What was his name, and what his degree?«
    He told both.
    »Was he perfectly acquainted with the road?«
    »He could not,« he replied, »pretend to much knowledge of the route, but he
was furnished with full instructions, and he was, at their first resting-place,
to be provided with a guide, in all respects competent to the task of directing
their farther journey; meanwhile, a horseman, who had just joined them, and made
the number of their guard four, was to be their guide for the first stage.«
    »And wherefore were you selected for such a duty, young gentleman?« said the
lady. - »I am told you are the same youth who was lately upon guard in the
gallery in which we met the Princess of France. You seem young and inexperienced
for such a charge - a stranger, too, in France, and speaking the language as a
foreigner.«
    »I am bound to obey the commands of the King, madam, but am not qualified to
reason on them,« answered the young soldier.
    »Are you of noble birth?« demanded the same querist.
    »I may safely affirm so, madam,« replied Quentin.
    »And are you not,« said the younger lady, addressing him in her turn, but
with a timorous accent, »the same whom I saw when I was called to wait upon the
King at yonder inn?«
    Lowering his voice, perhaps from similar feelings of timidity, Quentin
answered in the affirmative.
    »Then, methinks, my cousin,« said the Lady Isabelle, addressing the Lady
Hameline, »we must be safe under this young gentleman's safeguard; he looks not,
at least, like one to whom the execution of a plan of treacherous cruelty upon
two helpless women could be with safety intrusted.«
    »On my honour, madam,« said Durward, »by the fame of my house, by the bones
of my ancestry, I could not, for