tion, ordering them to make close
inquiries throughout the neighborhood.

His commands were brief, but to the point; they were to watch the
frontier, to submit all travellers to a rigorous examination, to search
the house, and to sow the description of d'Escorval broadcast through
the land.

But first of all he ordered the arrest both of Abbe Midon--the Cure of
Sairmeuse, and of the son of Baron d'Escorval.

Among the officers present there was one, an old lieutenant, medalled
and decorated, who had been deeply wounded by imputations uttered by the
Duc de Sairmeuse.

He stepped forward with a gloomy air, and said that these measures were
doubtless all very well, but the most pressing and urgent duty was to
institute an investigation at once, which, while acquainting them with
the method of escape, would probably reveal the accomplices.

On hearing the word "investigation," neither the Duc de Sairmeuse nor
the Marquis de Courtornieu could repress a slight shudder.

They could not ignore the fact that their reputations were at stake, and
that the merest trifle might disclose the truth. A precaution neglected,
the most insignificant detail, a word, a gesture might ruin their
ambitious hopes forever.

They trembled to think that this officer might be a man of unusual
shrewdness, who had suspected their complicity, and was impatient to
verify his presumptions.

No, the old lieutenant had not the slightest suspicion. He had spoken
on the impulse of the moment, merely to give vent to his displeasure. He
was not even keen enough to remark the rapid glance interchanged between
the marquis and the duke.

Martial noticed this look, however, and with a politeness too studied
not to be ridicule, he addressed the lieutenant:

"Yes, we must institute an investigation; that suggestion is as shrewd
as it is opportune," he remarked.

The old officer turned away with a muttered oath.

"That coxcomb is poking fun at me," he thought; "and he and his father
and that prig deserve--but what is one to do?"

In spite of his bold remark, Martial felt that he must not incur the
slightest risk.

To whom must the charge of this investigation be intrusted? To the duke
and to the marquis, of course, since they were the only persons who
would know just how much to conceal, and just how much to disclose.

They began their task immediately, with an _empressement_ which could
not fail to silence all doubts, in case any existed in the mi