quise, which had not softened through seventeen
months of torture and anxiety, melted at last before this silent homage;
tears were seen rolling down her thin cheeks, and the crowd was touched
to see the highest ladies in the town sitting round this old unhappy
woman, and saluting her with solemn courtesies.

At nightfall Mme. de Combray was taken back to the conciergerie; later
in the evening she was sent to Bicetre, and several days afterwards
Chopais-Marivaux, thinking he had served the Master well, begged as the
reward of his zeal for the cross of the Legion of Honour.

CHAPTER IX

THE FATE OF D'ACHE

D'Ache, however, had not renounced his plans; the arrest of Le
Chevalier, Mme. de Combray and Mme. Acquet was not enough to discourage
him. It was, after all, only one stake lost, and he was the sort to
continue the game. It is not even certain that he took the precaution,
when Licquet was searching for him all over Normandy, to leave the
Chateau of Montfiquet at Mandeville, where he had lived since his
journey to England in the beginning of 1807. Ten months after the
robbery of Quesnay he was known to be in the department of the Eure;
Licquet, who had just terminated his enquiry, posted to Louviers,
d'Ache, he found, had been there three days previously. From where had
he come? From Tournebut, where, in spite of the search made, he could
have lived concealed for six months in some well-equipped hiding-place?
Unlikely as this seems, Licquet was inclined to believe it, so much was
his own cunning disconcerted by the audacious cleverness of his rival.
The letter in which he reports to Real his investigation in the Eure, is
stamped with deep discouragement; he did not conceal the fact that the
pursuit of d'Ache was a task as deceptive as it was useless. Perhaps he
also thought that Le Chevalier's case was a precedent to be followed;
d'Ache would have been a very undesirable prisoner to bring before a
tribunal, and to get rid of him without scandal would be the best thing
for the State. Licquet felt that an excess of zeal, bringing on a
spectacular arrest such as that of Georges Cadoudal, would be
ill-received in high quarters, and he therefore showed some nonchalance
in his search for the conspirator.

D'Ache, meanwhile, showed little concern on learning of the capture of
his accomplices. Lost in his illusions he took no care for his own
safety, and remained at Mandeville, organising imaginary legions on
pap