opped there while Lanoe was having one of
the wheels mended. They took some refreshment, rested the horses and set
out again at ten o'clock. Lefebre got in with them and when they arrived
at Granville he got down and paid the duty on the two bundles of straw
that were in the waggon, and then entered the town without further
delay.

By the notary's advice they had decided to take the money to Gelin's
inn, in the Rue Pavee. Gelin was the son-in-law of Lerouge, called
Bornet, whom Le Chevalier sometimes employed, but the waggon was too
large to get into the courtyard of the inn; some troops had been passing
that day and the house was filled with soldiers. They could not stay
there, but had to leave the money there, and while Gelin watched, the
Marquise, uneasy at finding herself in such a place, unable to leave the
yard because the waggon stopped the door, had to assist in unloading it.
Two men were very busy about the waggon, one of them held a dark
lantern; Lefebre, Lerouge and even Mme. Acquet pulled the sacks from the
straw and threw them into the house by a window on the ground floor.
Mme. de Combray seemed to feel her decadence for the first time; she
found herself mixed up in one of those expeditions that she had until
then represented as chivalrous feats of arms, and these by-ways of
brigandage filled her with horror.

"But they are a band of rascals," she said to Lanoe, and she insisted on
his taking her away; she was obliged to pass through the inn filled with
men drinking. At last, outside, without turning round she went to the
Hotel des Trois Marchands, opposite Notre-Dame, where she usually
stayed.

Mme. Acquet had no such qualms; she supped with the men, and in the
night had a mysterious interview with Allain behind the walls of
Notre-Dame. Where Mme. Acquet slept that night is not known; she only
appeared at the Hotel des Trois Marchands four days later, where she met
Mme. de Combray who had just returned from Bayeux. In her need of
comfort the Marquise had tried to see d'Ache and find out if it were
true that Allain had acted according to his orders, but d'Ache had
assured his old friend that he disapproved of such vile deeds, and that
"he was still worthy of her esteem." She had returned to Caen much
grieved at having allowed herself to be deceived by her daughter and the
lawyer; she told them nothing of her visit to Bayeux, except that she
had not seen d'Ache and that he was still in England; then, qui