int of all," said he; "for after having taken
the places for Milan, and their passports all vised for that city, when
day broke they were not to be found. Some peasants, who came to market
that day, thought they had seen them on the mountains taking the path to
Feldkirch; but wherever they went, they were never heard of more."

"Do you mean that they had to set out on foot?"

"Parbleu! your Excellency; the route they took can be travelled in no
other fashion."

"But their baggage, their effects"

"They were of the lightest, I assure you," said he, laughing. "Madame
la Comtesse carried hers in a kerchief, and Monsieur le Secretaire had a
common soldier's knapsack, and a small bundle in his hand, when he came
here."

I suppose the expression of my face at the ribald tone of this remark
must have intimated what I felt, but 'tried to conceal, since he
speedily corrected himself, and said, in a voice of apology,--

"It is not, assuredly, at their poverty I would sneer, your Excellency;
but for persons of their condition this was not the suitable way to
travel."

"Did they leave no friends behind them who might give a clew to their
mysterious departure?"

"Friends! No, your Excellency, they were too proud and too highly born
for us of Reichenau,--at least, the Comtesse was; as for Monsieur Raper,
poor fellow, he was a teacher at Monsieur Jost's yonder, and rarely seen
amongst us."

"And how do you explain it?--I mean, what explanation was the common one
in vogue in the village?"

"As for that, there were all manner of rumors. Some said they had fled
from their debts, which was false; for they had sold the little they
possessed, and came to pass the two last days here while paying whatever
they owed in the village. Some thought that they had been hiding from
justice, and that their refuge had been at last discovered; and some,
among whom I confess myself one, think that it was with reference to the
Count's affairs that they had taken to flight."

"How do you mean?" asked I.

"Oh, De Gabriac was a 'bad subject,' and, if report speak truly, was
implicated in many crimes. One thing is certain: before they had been
gone a week, the gensdarmes were here in search of him; they ransacked
the lodging for some clew to his hiding-place, and searched the post for
letters to or from him."

"And so you think that it was probably to avoid him that she fled?" said
I, hazarding a question, to obtain a fuller admission than he