was about the same age as Mme.
Acquet. It was easy to believe that, in return for some remission of her
sentence, she would act as Licquet's spy. They spoke of her to the
Marquise, taking care to represent her as a royalist, persecuted for her
opinions. The Marquise expressed a wish to see her; Delaitre played her
part to perfection, saying that she had been educated with Mme. Acquet
at the convent of the Nouvelles Catholique, and that she felt honoured
in sharing the prison of the mother of her old school friend. In short,
that evening she was in a position to betray the Marquise's confidence
to Licquet. She had learned that Mme. Acquet had assisted at many of the
attacks on coaches, dressed as a man. Mme. de Combray dreaded nothing
more than to have her daughter fall into the hands of the police. "If
she is taken," she said, "she will accuse me." The Marquise was resigned
to her fate; she knew she was destined for the scaffold; "after all, the
King and the Queen had perished on the guillotine, and she would die
there also." However, she was anxious to know if she could be saved by
paying a large sum; but not a word was said about the yellow horse.

The next day she again wrote of the fear she felt for her daughter; she
would have liked to warn her to disguise herself and go as a servant ten
or twelve leagues from Falaise. "If she is arrested she will speak, and
then I am lost," she continued; so that Licquet came to the conclusion
that the reason the Marquise did not want the yellow horse to be found
was that it would lead to the discovery of her daughter. Mme. Acquet had
so successfully disappeared during the last two weeks that Real was
convinced she had escaped to England. Nothing could be done without
d'Ache or Mme. Acquet. The failure of the pursuit, showing the organised
strength of the royalist party and the powerlessness of the government,
would justify Caffarelli's indolent neutrality. On the other hand,
Licquet knew that failure spelled ruin for him. He had made the affair
his business; his prefect, Savoye-Rollin, was very half-hearted about
it, and quite ready to stop all proceedings at the slightest hitch. Real
was even preparing to sacrifice his subordinate if need be, and to the
amiable letters at first received from the ministry of police,
succeeded curt orders that implied disfavour. "It is indispensable to
find Mme. Acquet's retreat." "You must arrest d'Ache without delay, and
above all find the yello