the boat that took him to Pontoise,
Raoul Gaillard, then dying, had anxiously asked if a razor-case had been
found among his things. On receiving a negative reply, "he had appeared
to be very much put out, and was heard to murmur that the fortune of the
man who would discover this case was made."

The visits of this stranger--since seen, "in the country, on the heights
and near the woods,"--his threats of vengeance, and this mysterious
case, provided matter for a report that perplexed Real. Was this not
d'Ache? A great hunt was organised in the forest of Carnelle, but it
brought no result. Four days later they explored the forest of
Montmorency, where some signs of the "brigands'" occupation were seen,
but of d'Ache no trace at all, and in spite of the fierceness that
Real's men, incited by the promise of large rewards, brought to this
chase of the Chouans, after weeks and months of research, of enquiries,
tricks, false trails followed, and traps uselessly laid, it had to be
admitted that the police had lost the scent, and that Georges' clever
accomplice had long since disappeared.

CHAPTER III

THE COMBRAYS

At the period of our story there existed in the department of the Eure,
on the left bank of the Seine, beyond Gaillon, a large old manor-house,
backed by the hill that extended as far as Andelys; it was called the
Chateau de Tournebut. Although its peaked roofs could be seen from the
river above a thicket of low trees, Tournebut was off the main route of
travel, whether by land or water, from Rouen to Paris. Some fairly large
woods separated it from the highroad which runs from Gaillon to
Saint-Cyr-de-Vaudreuil, while the barges usually touched at the hamlet
of Roule, where hacks were hired to take passengers and goods to the
ferry of Muids, thereby saving them the long detour made by the Seine.
Tournebut was thus isolated between these two much-travelled roads. Its
principal facade, facing east, towards the river, consisted of two heavy
turrets, one against the other, built of brick and stone in the style of
Louis XIII, with great slate roofs and high dormer windows. After these
came a lower and more modern building, ending with the chapel. In front
of the chateau was an old square bastion forming a terrace, whose mossy
walls were bathed by the waters of a large stagnant marsh. The west
front which was plainer, was separated by only a few feet of level
ground from the abrupt, wooded hill by which Tour