d brought
the news from Dijon that they were on the road. And then from all who
surrounded those fresh comers there arose a hubbub, a babel of sound
that drowned everything like intelligible question or answer.

"A man who wore a burganet," one cried; "a rusty thing that would have
disgraced the days of the Bearnais." "_Fichte!_" hissed another, "you
have come an hour too late." "'Twas but at midnight," exclaimed a
third, "that he rode through--ten minutes of midnight. And, by good
chance for him, it was to-night, since 'tis the last of our New-Year
carousals; to-morrow the town will be closed at dusk as usual."

"But where--where is he gone?" asked St. Georges.

"_Corbleu!_" exclaimed the officer, "we had no right to ask him, since
both this and the other gates were open. Yet, stay; has he left the
town yet? It may be not."

"Ay! but he has, though," exclaimed a boyish young officer who at this
moment joined the group. "In truth, he has. I was at the north gate as
he clattered up to it, calling out that he must go through. 'And why
the devil must you?' I asked, not liking the fellow's tone, which
sounded hollow enough through the rusty iron pot on his head. 'I have
been attacked,' he said;' nigh murdered by some ruffians, and am
wounded. I must get me home.' 'And where is your home?' I asked.
'Beyond Bar,' he replied; 'for Heaven's sake, do not stop me!'
Whereon," continued the young officer, "since I had no right whatever
to prevent his exit, I let him go, and a second afterward the clock
struck midnight, and we clapped the gate behind him. Yet, ere that was
done, I saw him spurring along the north road as though the devil, or
a king's exempt, were after him."

"The north road!" St. Georges said in a low voice to Boussac. "The
north road! You hear? And the north road leads to De Roquemaure's
manoir."

CHAPTER VIII.

DRAWING NEAR.

Two days later, when again the wintry evening was fast approaching,
St. Georges, by now alone, drew near to the ancient city of Troyes. So
near, indeed, had he arrived that its walls and fortifications were
plainly visible to him, and from its steeples the bells could be
heard, either chiming the hour or summoning the inhabitants to evening
worship. Beneath his cloak, as ever, he bore his precious burden, who
showed no signs of being fatigued by the long journey she had made in
so rough a fashion, but often woke up and, thrusting her little head
from out the folds of the c