Lucette told one of the servants to open the door, and he was pushed brusquely to one side as an officer with some dozen men filed into the house.
Lucette gave a cry of surprise and alarm.
“What is the meaning of this, monsieur?” she asked.
“I am sorry if I disturb you, mademoiselle,” said the officer, saluting her, “but my orders are imperative.”
“Are you going to shoot us all, monsieur?” He was young and good-looking she found, as she brought the battery of her eyes into action, and he answered her smile with another.
“Not quite that, mademoiselle; pray be reassured. But some strange things have happened——”
“This is surely one of them, monsieur,” she interposed, with a shrug of her pretty shoulders and a little grimace of dismay.
“You know that we are looking for some prisoners who escaped last night from the Castle and——”
“Prisoners! And you look for them in Malincourt. Monsieur!” Admirably assumed indignation it was, and every interruption meant a gain of time. “Do you think we harbour thieves and malefactors here?”
“These are no ordinary prisoners, mademoiselle,” he replied with another smile. He found Lucette’s eyes very pleasing to gaze into.