4. A Story of Brigands

“‘Come,’ said the old man, ‘God has helped us, it is done.’

“Thus it was that the wife of the captain of the brigands was saved.

“They took her to the house of people rich and charitable, who cared for her, until her father, undeceived in regard to the imprudent marriage he had made for his daughter, came and took her home.

“They surrounded the forest, hoping to take the brigands in their retreat, but it was too late; the château was deserted when justice arrived there. Feeling themselves in danger of being discovered, they had not dared remain.”

“So much the worse!” said the Envoy, “but the wife was saved, that was the chief thing. By my faith, your story is very interesting, you have done well to relate it to me on our walk. Good stories make the road shorter.”

“If I have told it to you, it was to make it useful to us.”

“I understood it, my child,” said the Envoy, “understood it well. Ah! we understand each other perfectly.

“Nevertheless,” he added, “the white hand with the diamond rings, and the thrusts of the lance in the foliage of the oak-tree, made me shiver.”