out on a stone floor, quite dark, but thickly covered, as she felt
and smelt, with trusses of hay, between which a glimmering light
showed a narrow passage. A few steps, guided by Rotrou's hand,
brought her out into light again, and she found herself in a large
chamber, with the stone floor broken away in some places, and with
a circular window, thickly veiled with ivy, but still admitting a
good deal of evening light.

It was in fact a chamber over the vaulted refectory of the knights.
The walls and vaults still standing in their massive solidity, must
have tempted some peasant, or mayhap some adventurer, rudely to
cover in the roof (which had of course been stripped of its
leading), and thus in the unsuspected space to secure a hiding-
place, often for less innocent commodities than the salt, which the
iniquitous and oppressive _gabelle_ had always led the French
peasant to smuggle, ever since the days of the first Valois. The
room had a certain appearance of comfort; there was a partition
across it, a hearth with some remains of wood-ashes, a shelf,
holding a plate, cup, lamp, and a few other necessaries; and
altogether the aspect of the place was so unlike what Eustacie had
expected, that she almost forgot the Templar as she saw the dame
begin to arrange a comfortable-looking couch for her wearied limbs.
Yet she felt very unwilling to let them depart, and even ventured
on faltering out the inquiry whether the good woman could not stay
with her,--she would reward her largely.

'It is for the love of Heaven, Madame, not for gain,' said Nanon
Rotrou, rather stiffly. 'If you were ill, or needed me, all must
then give way; but for me to be absent this evening would soon be
reported around the village down there, for there are many who