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Then Madame said something to the man, and he nodded. Leaving him standing where he was, she crossed the grass with a quick, light step, and vanished among the trees. In a moment my mind was made up to follow; and, as Clon turned at once and went in, I was able to do so before it was too late. Bending low among the shrubs, I ran hotfoot to the point where Madame had entered the wood.
But her self-control was not yet exhausted. By an effort, painful to see, she recovered her composure. She took up her fork, and ate a few mouthfuls. Then she looked at me with a fierce under-look. 'I want to see Clon, she whispered feverishly. The man who waited on us had left the room. 'He knows? I said. She nodded, her beautiful face strangely disfigured.
I questioned him discreetly, and learned that he and Clon and an older man who lived over the stables were the only male servants left of a great household. Madame, her sister-in-law, and three women completed the family. It took me some time to repair my wardrobe, so that I daresay it was nearly ten when I left my dismal little room.
Outside the door, in the road, sitting on horseback in silence, were two men. One was Clon. The other, who had a spare horse by the rein my horse was a man I had seen at the inn, a rough, shock-headed, hard-bitten fellow. Both were armed, and Clon was booted. His mate rode barefoot, with a rusty spur strapped to one heel.
He wheeled at the end of the walk to go to the main door, but as he did so I saw the flutter of a white skirt by the stone seat against the house, and I stepped that way. 'Mademoiselle? I said softly. 'Is it you? 'Clon? she muttered, her voice quivering. 'What of him? 'He is past pain, I answered gently. 'He is dead yes, dead, Mademoiselle, but in his own way. Take comfort.
'It was an oversight, he stammered 'Clon is accustomed to lock the door, and he did it inadvertently, forgetting that there was anyone 'Inside, I said drily. 'Precisely, Monsieur. 'Ah! I replied. 'Well, I do not think the oversight would please Madame de Cocheforet if she heard of it? 'If Monsieur would have the kindness not to
And, on the other hand, if it was not his unexpected presence that had so upset the house, what was the secret? Whom had Clon been tracking? And what was the cause of Madame's anxiety? In a few minutes I began to grow curious again; and, as the ladies did not appear at supper, I had leisure to give my brain full licence, and, in the course of an hour, thought of a hundred keys to the mystery.
A minute's reflection enabled me to come very near the secret, and at the same time shed a flood of light on several dark places, What Clon had been seeking on the path between the house and the village, what the goodwife of the inn had sought among the sweepings of yard and floor, I knew now the sachet knew, too, what had caused the marked and sudden anxiety I had noticed at the Chateau the loss of this sachet.
When Clon at last improved his pace, and went on to the village, I took up his task. I called to mind all the wood-lore I had ever learned, and scanned trodden mould and crushed leaves with eager eyes. But in vain. I could make nothing of it all, and rose at last with an aching back and no advantage.
But after waiting a minute the porter strode off also with the lanthorn, leaving me to stand in the middle of the damp, dark room and reflect on the position. It was plain that Clon suspected me. This prison-like room, with its barred window, at the back of the house, and in the wing farthest from the stables, proved so much. Clearly, he was a dangerous fellow, of whom I must beware.
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