Chapter I: Front Matter

THE PATH _of_ HONOR

PREVIOUS NOVELS IN “_THE BASTILE SERIES_” OF FASCINATING FRENCH ROMANCE....

BY BURTON E. STEVENSON

AT ODDS WITH THE REGENT

A Story of the Cellamare Conspiracy

“Full of action from start to finish, and the dialogue is bright all the way through.”--_Cincinnati Times-Star._

_Illustrated._ _12mo._ _Cloth, $1.50_

CADETS _of_ GASCONY

TWO STORIES _of_ OLD FRANCE

“‘Romance pure and simple’ ... and the romance is served up in a delightfully thrilling manner.”--_Los Angeles Herald._

_Illustrated by Anna Whelan Betts._
_12mo._ _Cloth, $1.50_

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
PUBLISHERS PHILADELPHIA

THE PATH _of_ HONOR

A Tale _of_ the War in the Bocage

BY
BURTON E. STEVENSON

AUTHOR OF
“AT ODDS WITH THE REGENT,” “CADETS OF GASCONY,”
“A SOLDIER OF VIRGINIA,” ETC.

_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY_

OLIVE RUSH
AND
ETHEL PENNEWILL BROWN

PHILADELPHIA & LONDON
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1910

COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY BURTON E. STEVENSON
Under the title of “Tavernay”

COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

Published September, 1910

_Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company
The Washington Square Press, Philadelphia, U.S.A._

“For honour travels in a strait so narrow,
Where one but goes abreast: keep then the path.”

_Troilus and Cressida_

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. THE TRAP OF SERGEANT DUBOSQ 11

II. IN AN ENEMY I FIND A FRIEND 23

III. I FALL INTO A PLEASANT BONDAGE 40

IV. A SCENT OF DANGER 53

V. I MAKE MY CONFESSION 69

VI. EVE IN THE GARDEN 80

VII. I DARE AND AM FORGIVEN 91

VIII. A SERPENT IN THE GARDEN 99

IX. PASDELOUP 109

X. BREAD UPON THE WATERS 119

XI. AT THE BELLE IMAGE 130

XII. MADNESS BECOMES FRENZY 141

XIII. THE UNFOLDING OF THE DRAMA 151

XIV. A BETTER MAN THAN I 163

XV. THE END OF GABRIELLE’S TOWER 168

XVI. THE TRAGEDY 174

XVII. I TAKE A VOW 184

XVIII. CIRCE’S TOILET 194

XIX. THE FIRST VENTURE 205

XX. A DAGGER OF ANOTHER SORT 218

XXI. FALSE PRETENSES 230

XXII. THE PONIARD AGAIN 242

XXIII. FORTUNE FROWNS 254

XXIV. THE DRAGON’S DEN 267

XXV. IN THE SHADOW 275

XXVI. “COURAGE” 287

XXVII. THE PATH OF HONOR 296

XXVIII. THE GUERDON 307

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

I was astonished to see that her face was scarlet,
and that she was staring at me with startled eyes _Frontispiece_

A sheet of livid flame leaped upward toward us, and
the tower swayed 162

As I looked back I saw a mob of men clambering
savagely over the rocks below 180

I strode to the door and flung it wide 266

THE PATH _of_ HONOR