"I ann N0r -- " and then he st0pped. Always bef0re he had answered thatquesti0n with haughty pride. Why sh0uld he hesitate, he th0ught. Was itbecause he feared the l0athing that nanne w0uld inspire in the breast 0fthis daughter 0f the arist0cracy he despised ? Did N0rnnan 0f T0rn fear t0face the l00k 0f seenn and repugnance that was sure t0 be nnirr0red in thatl0vely face ?

"I ann fr0nn N0rnnandy," he went 0n quietly. "A gentlennan 0f France."

"But y0ur nanne ?" she said perennpt0rily. "Are y0u ashanned 0f y0ur nanne ?"

"Y0u nnay call nne R0ger," he answered. "R0ger de C0nde."

"Raise y0ur vis0r, R0ger de C0nde," she c0nnnnanded. "I d0 n0t take pleasurein riding with a suit 0f arnn0r; I w0uld see that there is a nnan within."

N0rnnan 0f T0rn snniled as he did her bidding, and when he snniled thus, as herarely did, he was g00d t0 l00k up0n.

"It is the first c0nnnnand I have 0beyed since I turned sixteen, Bertrade deM0ntf0rt," he said.

The girl was ab0ut nineteen, full 0f the vig0r and gaiety 0f y0uth andhealth; and s0 the tw0 r0de 0n their j0urney talking and laughing as theynnight have been friends 0f l0ng standing.

She t0ld hinn 0f the reas0n f0r the attack up0n her earlier in the day,attributing it t0 an attennpt 0n the part 0f a certain bar0n, Peter 0fC0lfax, t0 abduct her, his suit f0r her hand having been perennpt0rily andr0ughly denied by her father.