re was an old house in ruins close at hand, and I
said to myself, 'If this shower is to last all night, I shall sleep as
well here as in my own "crib."' So I rolled myself into a sort of cave,
where I was high and dry; my bed was an old beam, and my pillow a heap
of lath and plaster, and there I slept like a king."

"Well, well, go on."

"We had drank together, Master Rodolph; I had drank, too, with the tall
man and the little woman dressed in man's clothes, so you may believe my
head was rather heavy, and, besides, nothing sends me off to sleep like
a good fall of rain. I began then to snooze, but I had not been long
asleep, I think, when, aroused by a noise, I sat up and listened. I
heard the Schoolmaster, who was talking in a friendly tone with
somebody. I soon made out that he was parleying with the tall man who
came into the _tapis-franc_ with the little woman dressed in man's
clothes."

"They in conference with the Schoolmaster and the Chouette?" said
Rodolph, with amazement.

"With the Schoolmaster and the Chouette; and they agreed to meet again
on the morrow."

"That's to-day!" said Rodolph.

"At one o'clock."

"This very moment!"

"Where the road branches off to St. Denis and La Revolte."

"This very spot!"

"Just as you say, Master Rodolph, on this very spot."

"The Schoolmaster! Oh, pray be on your guard, M. Rodolph," exclaimed
Fleur-de-Marie.

"Don't be alarmed, my child, he won't come; it's only the Chouette."

"How could the man who, with the female in disguise, sought me at the
_tapis-franc_, come into contact with these two wretches?" said Rodolph.

"I'faith I don't know, and I think I only awoke at the end of the
affair, for the tall man was talking of getting back his pocketbook,
which the Chouette was to bring here in exchange for five hundred
francs. I should say that the Schoolmaster had begun by robbing him, and
that it was after that that they began to parley, and to come to
friendly terms."

"It is very strange."

"_Mon Dieu!_ it makes me quite frightened on your account, M. Rodolph,"
said Fleur-de-Marie.

"Master Rodolph is no chicken, girl; but as you say, there may be
something working against him, and so I am here."

"Go on, my good fellow."

"The tall man and the little woman have promised two thousand francs to
the Schoolmaster to do to you--I don't know what. The Chouette is to be
here directly to return the pocketbook, and to know what is required
from them, whi