“Towards the coast?”
“The place to which we must go is about seven leagues from the sea.”
“Our first objective then will be Beauvais, Amiens, Abbeville, Crecy, and so on?”
“Precisely.”
“As far as the forest of Boulogne, shall we say?”
“Where we shall come off the beaten track, and you will have to trust to my guidance.”
“We might go there now, Sir Percy, and leave you here.”
“You might. But you would not then find the child. Seven leagues is not far from the coast. He might slip through your fingers.”
“And my colleague Heron, being disappointed, would inevitably send you to the guillotine.”
“Quite so,” rejoined the prisoner placidly. “Methought, sir, that we had decided that I should lead this little expedition? Surely,” he added, “it is not so much the Dauphin whom you want as my share in this betrayal.”