"What were they?"
"That our small contingent was entirely cut up ... there were some prisoners taken ... but it is generally believed that scarce a man escaped."
"And ... has anything been heard of M. de Puisaye?"
"No, Madame la Marquise, nothing."
"Or of M. de Courson, or any of the others?"
"No. But," added Blanchet significantly, as he nodded in the direction of the door, "I believe that Mathurin there knows something."
"You think ..." began Madame involuntarily. Then she paused; something in the man's look—furtive and compassionate—froze the words upon her lips.
"Can't you tell me?" she asked under her breath.
"I don't know for certain, Madame la Marquise," he replied.