o meet Joseph at the house of a farmer named
Halbout, which was situated at some distance from the village of Donnay.
He came at the appointed hour; but as he was approaching carefully,
fearing an ambuscade, he caught sight of Allain hiding behind a hedge,
and taking fright made off as fast as his legs could carry him.

They had to go back to Caen empty-handed and face the anger of Vannier,
who accused his lodger of complicity with the Buquets to make their
attempts miscarry. A fresh council was held, and this time Chauvel was
admitted; he too, had a plan. This was that he and Mallet, one of his
comrades, should go to Donnay in uniform; Langelley was to play the
part of commissary of police. "They were to arrest Buquet on the part of
the government; if he consented to say where the money was, he was to be
given his liberty, and the address of a safe hiding-place; in case of
his refusing, the police were to kill him, and they would then be free
to draw up a report of contumacy."

The Marquise de Combray's daughter was present at these conferences,
meek and resigned, her heart heavy at the thought that this wretched
money would become the prey of these men who had had none of the trouble
and who would have all the profit. Every day she sank deeper and deeper
into this quagmire; the plots that were hatched there, the things she
heard--for they showed no reserve before her--were horrible. As she
represented 40,000 francs to these ruffians, she had to endure not only
their brutal gallantries, but also their confidences. "Mme. Placene one
day suggested the enforced disappearance of the baker Lerouge," says
Bornet, as he was "very religious and a very good man," she was afraid
that if he were arrested, "he would not consent to lie, and would ruin
them all." Langelley specially feared the garrulity of Flierle and
Lanoe, in prison at Caen, and he was trying to get them poisoned. He had
already made an arrangement "with the chemist and the prison doctor,
whom he had under his thumb," and he also knew a man who "for a small
sum, would create a disturbance in the town, allow himself to be
arrested and condemned to a few months' imprisonment, and would thus
find a way of getting rid of these individuals." They also spoke of
Acquet, who was still in jail at Caen. In everybody's opinion Mme.
Vannier was his mistress, and went to see him every day in his cell. He
was supposed to be a government spy, and Placene pretended that Vannier