s Chouettes before I knew everything."

And five minutes had not passed before General Ratoneau was in
possession of all that Simon knew or suspected. Every one was
implicated; master, servants, the four guests, whose voices he had
recognised as he prowled in the wood, Angelot, and even the child
Henriette.

"Gathering flowers in the meadow!" the spy laughed maliciously. "She
ought to be in prison at this moment with her father and her cousin."

"Sapristi! And the Prefect knew all this?" growled the General.

"I told him at the time, monsieur. As he was strolling about after
breakfast with Monsieur de la Mariniere, I called him aside and told
him. Of course I expected an order to arrest the whole party. We were
armed, we could have done it very well, even then, though they
outnumbered us. Since then I have viewed the ground again, and caught
the Baron d'Ombre breakfasting there, the most desperate Chouan in these
parts. I questioned old Joubard the farmer, too, for his loyalty is
none too firm. Well, when I came to report this to Monsieur le Prefet,
he only told me again to be silent. And this very morning, after
conferring with some of these Chouan gentlemen last night at Lancilly,
as I happen to know, he told me to let the matter alone, to keep away
from Les Chouettes and leave Monsieur de la Mariniere to do as he
pleased."

The General stared and grunted. Honestly, he was very much astonished.

"That afternoon! The devil! who would have thought it?" he muttered to
himself.

"It is not that Monsieur le Prefet is disloyal to the Empire," Simon
went on, "though he might easily be made to appear so. It is that he
thinks there is no policy like a merciful one. Also he is too
soft-hearted, and too kind to his friends."

"By heaven! those are fortunate who find him so."

"The old friends of the country, monsieur. It is amazing how they hang
together. Monsieur Joseph de la Mariniere is brother of Monsieur Urbain,
Monsieur Ange is Monsieur Urbain's son, Monsieur le Comte de Sainfoy is
their cousin--and I heard the servants saying, only last night, how
beautiful the two young people looked, handing the coffee
together--though I should certainly have thought, myself, that Monsieur
le Comte would have made a better marriage than that for his daughter.
But they say the young gentleman's face--"

"Stop your fool's chatter!" cried the General, furiously.

"But that is just what I said, monsieur, to the Prefect's fellow