Speaking in a deep guttural tone, he addressed them for some minutes in
a patois of which I was totally ignorant; every word he uttered seemed
to stir their very hearts, if I were to judge from the short and heavy
respiration, the deep-drawn breath, the flushed faces and staring eyes
around me. More than once some allusion seemed made to me,--at least,
they turned simultaneously to look at me; once, too, at something he
said, each man carried his hand round to his sword-hilt, but dropped
it again listlessly as he continued. The discourse over, the door was
unlocked, and one by one they left the room, each man saluting the
speaker with a reverence as he passed out. De Beauvais closed the door
and barred it as the last man disappeared, and turning hastily round,
called out,--

"What now?"

The large man bent his head down between his hands, and spoke not in
reply; then suddenly springing up, he said,--

"Take my horse--he is fresh and ready for the road--and make for
Quilleboeuf; the ford at Montgorge will be swollen, but he 'll take the
stream for you. At the farmer's house that looks over the river you can
stop."

"I know it, I know it," said De Beauvais. "But what of you, are you to
remain behind?"

"I 'll go with him," said he, pointing towards me. "As his companion,
I can reach the Bois de Boulogne; in any case, as his prisoner. Once
there, you may trust me for the rest."

De Beauvais looked at me for a reply. I hesitated what to say, and at
last said,--

"For your sake, Henri de Beauvais, and yours only, have I ventured on a
step which may, in all likelihood, be my ruin. I neither know, nor wish
to know, your plans; nor will I associate myself with any one, be he who
he may, in your enterprise."

"Jacques Tisserand, the tanner," continued the large man, as if not
heeding nor caring for my interruption, "will warn Armand de Polignac
of what has happened; and Charles de la Riviere had better remain near
Deauville for the English cutter,--she 'll lie off the coast to-morrow or
next day. Away! lose not a moment."

"And my dear friend here," said De Beauvais, turning to me, "who has
risked his very life to rescue me, shall I leave him thus?"

"Can you save him by remaining?" said the other, as he coolly examined
the priming of his pistols. "We shall all escape, if you be but quick."

A look from De Beauvais drew me towards him, when he threw his arms
around my neck, and in a low, broken voice, muttered, "W