e tower, till--"

"Till they are dead. Yes, in that case, if I am expeditious, no noise
may be heard outside. That is a thing to aim for. If they, or one,
should be outside, I can rush in and so draw them after me. Well, and
when I have done for them--?"

"Then you have but to unlock our door, and Madame and I will join
you.--You will know our door by there being a stool in the landing
before it--the guard sits there.--Well, then we must fly silently
through the court-yards and the hall, let ourselves out to the
terrace--there are two or three ways I know,--and run through the garden
to the postern. Once out of these walls, we must hurry across the fields
to the house of a certain miller--"

"Hugues? Yes."

"Yes, Monsieur. The watchman on the tower will not see us in the fields,
for we shall keep close to the woods till we are at a distance. Hugues
can supply two horses, at least, and you and Madame must be as far away
as possible by daylight."

"And you, Mathilde?"

"Unless we can get three horses, I will lie hid at Hugues's mill till
Madame finds time to send for me. It will be suitable enough--Hugues and
I are to be married some day."

"But I have a horse at the inn at Montoire. If I can get it out at that
hour, you can come with us--to whatever place we may decide upon."

"As to that place, you may consider in the meanwhile. There will be time
to discuss the matter with Madame when she is escaping with you. The
first thing is, to get as far from Lavardin as possible. And now when is
all this to be done?"

"The sooner the better, for who knows when the Count may take into his
head some new idea?"

"Yes, of harm to Madame or to yourself."

"Why should we not choose this very night?"

"I see no reason against it--except that I may not be able to persuade
Madame. But yet there will be several hours--and surely heaven will help
me!--Yes, to-night! There is nothing for me to do but persuade Madame,
and see that we are dressed as suitably for travel as the clothes at
hand will permit. But first, before Brigitte comes away, I must instruct
her about the key. At what hour will you come, Monsieur?"

"As soon as the house is asleep."

"Fortunately, early hours are kept here, as there is never any company.
But the Count and the Captain stay at their cups till ten or eleven
o'clock."

"Then by that time they must have drunk enough to make them fall asleep
as soon as they are in bed."

"And sometimes before