ther, and confided his secret to Corporal Bavois, who was an
honored guest at Escorval; and these devoted friends had promised him
all possible aid.

The task was very difficult, however, and certain resolutions on the
part of Maurice greatly diminished the chance of success.

Unlike Jean, he was determined to guard religiously the honor of the
dead; and he had made _his_ friends promise that Marie-Anne's name
should not be mentioned in prosecuting the search.

"We shall succeed all the same," said the abbe, kindly; "with time and
patience any mystery can be solved."

He divided the department into a certain number of districts; then one
of the little band went each day from house to house questioning
the inmates, but not without extreme caution, for fear of arousing
suspicion, for a peasant becomes intractable at once if his suspicions
are aroused.

But the weeks went by, and the quest was fruitless. Maurice was deeply
discouraged.

"My child died on coming into the world," he said, again and again.

But the abbe reassured him.

"I am morally certain that such was not the case," he replied. "I know,
by Marie-Anne's absence, the date of her child's birth. I saw her after
her recovery; she was comparatively gay and smiling. Draw your own
conclusions."

"And yet there is not a nook or corner for miles around which we have
not explored."

"True; but we must extend the circle of our investigations."

The priest, now, was only striving to gain time, knowing full well that
it is the sovereign balm for all sorrows.

His confidence, which had been very great at first, had been sensibly
diminished by the responses of an old woman, who passed for one of the
greatest gossips in the community.

Adroitly interrogated, the worthy dame replied that she knew nothing of
such a child, but that there must be one in the neighborhood, since it
was the third time she had been questioned on the subject.

Intense as was his surprise, the abbe succeeded in hiding it.

He set the old gossip to talking, and after a two hours' conversation,
he arrived at the conclusion that two persons besides Maurice were
searching for Marie-Anne's child.

Why, with what aim, and who these persons could be the abbe was unable
to ascertain.

"Ah! rascals have their uses after all," he thought. "If we only had a
man like Chupin to set upon the track!"

But the old poacher was dead, and his eldest son--the one who knew
Blanche de Courtornieu'