buttoned up his cloak with peremptory decision. "Oh!" She sobbed with joy. She could not thank him in words. "And who are you?" André asked. "Hush! hush! The army must not know of the danger. If you must know, I am an actress, the friend of Monseigneur le Maréchal. I alone have discovered this, and I am come to you, for I, too, love France." The blood swirled for a minute in his temples. Ha! when Denise heard how he, André de Nérac, alone had saved France, the army, and the King, would she not be proud? Perhaps they would give him the Cordon Bleu. "What am I to do?" he asked quietly. "I am ready." She described at length where the charcoal-burner's hut lay and how it could be reached. "When you are there, rap twice on the door," she proceeded, "and then say in English to whoever comes, 'I am from "No. 101" to "No. 101."'" "What does that mean?" "The Vicomte knows what a cipher is? That is the traitor's cipher--and the traitor's name. It is all we have discovered." "A man, this traitor?" "No one knows. I swear it. But it must be a man, so say those words in English; speak in English, always--always. Remember you are an officer of the First Foot Guards of the English King; you have come for the papers because 'No. 101' has bidden you. You will get them if you are clever and God wills. Then fly--fly for your life, and France is saved." "I will not fly till I have killed that traitor." "Yes, kill him if you can. But it is the papers you must have or we are all ruined. The papers," she repeated in a dull agony. André meditated. Then he took the _vivandière_ by both arms, "Will you swear by the name of the Holy Virgin that this is no trap?" he asked solemnly. She turned her hooded face up to his and took his Croix de St Louis. "Before God and on this cross," she answered very slowly, "it is no trap. It is the truth." Conviction rang in her low tones and she was trembling with emotion. "Very well. I am ready. But my uniform?" he asked sharply. "I shall be recognised."
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