At that instant two o'clock rang from the steeple of a neighboring village.
"Have you any errand to do?" asked Jean Oullier.
"No," replied the baron, for he fancied that the Vendéan's eye could penetrate into the deepest recesses of his soul,--"no; but I have a dreadful headache, and I thought the night air might still it."
"I warn you that we have sentinels all around us, and if you have not the password you may be roughly used."
"I!"
"Damn it! you as well as others. Ten steps from here you'll find out you are not the master of this house."
"But that password,--do you know it, Monsieur Jean?"
"Of course."
"Then tell me."
Jean Oullier shook his head.