ppened
at Beaulevrier and at Mothois; but on approaching Gournay his memory
returned, and he led Manginot to a house in the hamlet of Saint-Clair
which he asserted was the one to which Monnier had sent him. On entering
the courtyard he recognised the servant to whom he had given the horse
six months before, a groom named Joseph Planchon. Manginot instantly
arrested the man, and then began his search.

The house belonged to an ex-officer of marine, Francois Robert d'Ache,
who rarely occupied it, being an ardent sportsman and preferring his
estates near Neufchatel-en-Bray, where there was more game. Saint-Clair
was occupied by Mme. d'Ache, an invalid who rarely left her room, and
her two daughters, Louise and Alexandrine, as well as d'Ache's mother, a
bedridden octogenarian, and a young man named Caqueray, who was also
called the Chevalier de Lorme, who farmed the lands of M. and Mme.
d'Ache, whose property had recently been separated by law. Caqueray
looked upon himself as one of the family, and Louise, the eldest girl,
was betrothed to him.

Nothing could have been less suspicious than the members of this
patriarchal household, who seemed to know nothing of politics, and whose
tranquil lives were apparently unaffected by revolutions. The absence of
the head of so united a family was the only astonishing thing about it.
But Mme. d'Ache and her daughters explained that he was bored at
Saint-Clair and usually lived in Rouen, that he hunted a great deal, and
spent his time between his relatives who lived near Gaillon and friends
at Saint-Germain-en-Laye. They could not say where he was at present,
having had no news of him for two months.

But on questioning the servants Manginot learned some facts that changed
the aspect of affairs. Lambert, the gardener, had recently been shot at
Evreux, convicted of having taken part with a band of Chouans in an
attack on the stage-coach, Caqueray's brother had just been executed for
the same cause at Rouen. Constant Prevot, a farm hand, accused of having
killed a gendarme, had been acquitted, but died soon after his return to
Saint-Clair. Manginot had unearthed a nest of Chouans, and only when he
learned that the description of d'Ache was singularly like that of the
mysterious Beaumont who had been seen with Georges at La Poterie, Aumale
and Feuquieres, did he understand the importance of his discovery.
After a rapid and minute inquiry, he took it upon himself to arrest
every one at