ll ignorant of the contents of these mysterious despatches,
and inquiry on this point is reduced to supposition. Some pretended that
d'Ache sent the manifesto to Mme. de Combray, and that it was
clandestinely printed in the cellars at Tournebut; others maintain that
towards March 15th Bonnoeil returned from Paris, bringing with him the
correspondence of the secret royalist committee which was to be sent to
the English Cabinet via Mandeville. D'Ache certainly attached immense
importance to this expedition, which ought, according to him, to make
the princes decide on the immediate despatch of funds, and to hasten the
preparation for the attack on the island of Tahitou. But days passed and
no reply came. In the agony of uncertainty he decided to approach Le
Chevalier, whom he only knew by reputation as being a shrewd and
resolute man. The meeting took place at Trevieres towards the middle of
April, 1807. Le Chevalier brought one of his aides-de-camp with him, but
d'Ache came alone.

The names of these two men are so little known, they occupy such a very
humble place in history, that we can hardly imagine, now that we know
how pitifully their dreams miscarried, how without being ridiculous they
could fancy that any result whatever could come of their meeting. The
surroundings made them consider themselves important: d'Ache was--or
thought he was--the mouthpiece of the exiled King; as for Le Chevalier,
whether from vainglory or credulity he boasted of an immense popularity
with the Chouans, and spoke mysteriously of the royalist committee
which, working in Paris, had succeeded, he said, in rallying to the
cause men of considerable importance in the entourage of the Emperor
himself.

Since he had been Mme. Acquet's adored lover, Le Chevalier's visits to
the Cafe Hervieux had become rarer; his parasites had dispersed, and
although he still kept up his house in the Rue Saint-Sauveur at Caen, he
spent the greater part of his time either at Falaise or at La Bijude,
where his devoted mistress alternately lived. The police of Count
Caffarelli, Prefect of Calvados, had ceased keeping an eye on him, and
he even received a passport for Paris, whither he went frequently. He
always returned more confident than before, and in the little group
amongst whom he lived at Falaise--consisting of his cousin, Dusaussay,
two Chouan comrades, Beaupaire and Desmontis; a doctor in the Frotte
army, Reverend; and the Notary of the Combray family, Mai