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I was able to withdraw, unnoticed, to run into the garden, and to carry away the oaken chest. An hour later, it was concealed in the miserable hovel in which I dwelt. The following year I purchased Sairmeuse." He had confessed all; and he paused, trembling, trying to read his sentence in the eyes of his daughter. "And can you hesitate?" she demanded. "Ah! you do not know "
"Lacheneur, Abbe Midon, Chanlouineau, Baron d'Escorval " "Enough!" cried the duke. Now that danger was certain, his coolness returned; and his herculean form, a trifle bowed by the weight of years, rose to its full height. He gave the bell-rope a violent pull; a valet appeared. "My uniform," commanded M. de Sairmeuse; "my pistols! Quick!"
May your conscience forgive you, as I, myself, forgive you. Farewell!" This was said so perfectly, with such entire harmony of intonation and gesture, that M. de Sairmeuse was bewildered.
"It is now in the hands of a trusty person, who knows its value. It will go to the King if necessary. We would like to understand the part which the Marquis de Sairmeuse has played in this affair whether he was truly with us, or whether he was only an instigating agent."
"'This amount, she continued, 'is not a quarter part of the former income from our family estates. But now, who knows but it will, one day, be the only resource of the Sairmeuse? I am going to place it in your charge, Lacheneur. I confide it to your honor and to your devotion. The estates belonging to the emigrants are to be sold, I hear.
The excitement subsided; the Hotel de Sairmeuse was not seriously threatened. Still Martial realized that it would be better for him to go away for a while, and allow people to forget him. He did not ask the duchess to accompany him. "The fault has been mine entirely," he said to her, "and to make you suffer for it by condemning you to exile would be unjust.
Why they had not succeeded in finding it, he knew equally well. But why were there two persons seeking the child? One was Maurice d'Escorval, of course, but who was the other? Instead of remaining at Sairmeuse a week, Jean Lacheneur tarried there a month; and by the expiration of that month he had traced these inquiries concerning the child to the agent of Chelteux.
All the household were really delighted at his return; the son of the commander of the military forces at Montaignac, and the prospective son-in-law of the provost-marshal, Martial was a most valuable instrument. "Through him, we shall have an eye and an ear in the enemy's camp," said Lacheneur. "The Marquis de Sairmeuse will be our spy."
The clock in the tower of Sairmeuse was striking the hour of eight when Lacheneur and his little band of followers left the Reche. An hour later, at the Chateau de Courtornieu, Mlle. Blanche, after finishing her dinner, ordered the carriage to convey her to Montaignac.
"It is not that I distrust the marquis, not by any means, but a letter is dangerous; it does not always reach the person to whom it is addressed. You must see Monsieur de Sairmeuse." Marie-Anne recoiled in horror. "Never! never!" she exclaimed. The abbe did not seem surprised.
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