"You do well to take those men," said Nanon, "and if you follow my advice you will take six rather than four; there may be work cut out for them."
"Good!" said Cauvignac; "work of that kind is what I want."
"Then you will be content," said Nanon.
The coachman turned the carriage, and drove away, with Nanon, red with the flame of her thoughts, and Cauvignac, apparently calm and cold, but ready, nevertheless, to lend an attentive ear to his sister's suggestions.
Meanwhile, Canolles, attracted by the joyous cry uttered by Madame de Cambes when she caught sight of him, had darted into the inn, and to the viscountess's room, without noticing Ferguzon, whom he passed in the corridor, but who made no objection to his entering, as he had received no instructions concerning him.
"Ah! monsieur," cried Madame de Cambes, "come in quickly; I have been so impatient for you to come!"
"Those words would make me the happiest man in the world, madame, if your pallor and your evident distress did not tell me as plainly as words could do that you were not expecting me for myself alone."
"Yes, monsieur, you are right," said Claire with her charming smile, "and I desire to lay myself under still greater obligation to you."
"How so?"
"By begging you to save me from some peril, I know not what, which threatens me."