n is the future
king of France. If you accept your brother's devotion to Bonaparte,
accept ours to Louis XVIII."

Amelie let her face drop into her hands with a sigh.

"Then," said she, "we are lost."

"Why so? On various pretexts, your health above all, you can gain a
year. Before the year is out Bonaparte will probably be forced to begin
another war in Italy. A single defeat will destroy his prestige; in
short, a great many things can happen in a year."

"Did you read Roland's postscript, Charles?"

"Yes; but I didn't see anything in it that was not in your mother's
letter."

"Read the last sentence again." And Amelie placed the letter before him.
He read:

I am leaving Paris for a few days; though you may not see me,
you will hear of me.

"Well?"

"Do you know what that means?"

"No."

"It means that Roland is in pursuit of you."

"What does that matter? He cannot die by the hand of any of us."

"But you, unhappy man, you can die by his!"

"Do you think I should care so very much if he killed me, Amelie?"

"Oh! even in my gloomiest moments I never thought of that."

"So you think your brother is on the hunt for us?"

"I am sure of it."

"What makes you so certain?"

"Because he swore over Sir John's body, when he thought him dead, to
avenge him."

"If he had died," exclaimed the young man, bitterly, "we should not be
where we are, Amelie."

"God saved him, Charles; it was therefore good that he did not die."

"For us?"

"I cannot fathom the ways of the Lord. I tell you, my beloved Charles,
beware of Roland; Roland is close by."

Charles smiled incredulously.

"I tell you that he is not only near here, but he has been seen."

"He has been seen! Where? Who saw him?"

"Who saw him?"

"Yes."

"Charlotte, my maid, the jailer's daughter. She asked permission to
visit her parents yesterday, Sunday; you were coming, so I told her she
could stay till this morning."

"Well?"

"She therefore spent the night with her parents. At eleven o'clock the
captain of the gendarmerie brought in some prisoners. While they were
locking them up, a man, wrapped in a cloak, came in and asked for the
captain. Charlotte thought she recognized the new-comer's voice. She
looked at him attentively; his cloak slipped from his face, and she saw
that it was my brother."

The young man made a movement.

"Now do you understand, Charles? My brother comes to Bourg,
mysteriously, without letting me know;