Duchatel, as he sat yawning between asleep and
awake, but who, on hearing the conversation, aroused
himself, and bade Montigny be easy, and not dream
of endowing the foreigner, since he, Samson, had
already secured the troublesome fair one. Montigny
took little notice of this, thinking it to be but the
jest or boast, or, at furthest, merely the loose an-
nouncement of the intention of the unscrupulous
giant; who soon afterwards invited him to walk
abroad. The company of Samson was not coveted
by the more refined and anxious Seigneur, but the
former pressed him, and he thought that locomotion
might divert his mind from the contemplation of the
coming degradation and folly of his son. He con-
sented, and issuing from the ancient and flower-@
festooned porch of the Manor House, they walked
along in mid-morning of late September, the drowsy
charms of the summer's faded foliage just awakening
to a resurrection in the glorified beauty of Autumn;
and, almost in silence, they proceeded along the road
or lane, till they came to the dubious dwelling where,
some hours before, Amanda was left a prisoner. The
sullen and sloven-looking female who had received
her was now dressed in gaudy attire, and saluted them
as they entered, at the same time casting a look of
enquiry and surprise into the face of Samson, and of
suspicion on the Seigneur.

"Bring up the body of your prisoner;" growled
the former, loudly, as he threw his huge frame into
an arm-chair. "Come, habeas corpus, habeas corpus.
Now, if we had Alphonse here," he continued, "he
could repeat the whole writ in Latin. Habeas
corpus, habeas corpus," muttered the puzzled savage,

[[96]]

p095 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p096w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p097

v?