Already he had turned his head slowly round to watch that fast disappearing three-decker, gleaming golden now in the distant haze.
His argosy which he had hoped to see returning from her voyage laden with golden freight! Somehow as first the hulk and then the graceful sails were gradually merged into the Western glow, Gaston knew—by one of those inexplainable yet absolutely unerring instincts which baffle the materialist—that all hopes of those coveted millions were vanishing as surely as did the ship now from before his gaze. He was still weak in body as well as in mind, and it was as if in a dream, that he listened to de Mortémar's carelessly given explanations of the event which meant the wreckage of so many fondly cherished hopes.
"Captain Barre broke his fast in this very room this morning," said the young man lightly, "several of these gentlemen here, as well as myself, had speech with him. He had no idea then that he would have to start on a voyage quite so soon. He left here at eleven o'clock and went back to his ship. An hour later when I was strolling along the shore I met him again. He seemed in a vast hurry and told me in a few curt words that Le Monarque had received orders to be under way as soon as the tide permitted."
"You did not ask him whither the ship was bound?" queried Gaston, speaking hoarsely like a man who has been drinking.
"He could not tell me," replied the other, "her orders were secret."
"Do you know who was the bearer of these secret orders?"
"No, but I heard later that a stranger had ridden into Le Havre at midday to-day. His mare—a beautiful creature so I understand—dropped not far from here; she had been ridden to her death, poor thing; and her rider, so they say, was near to dropping too."
"I saw him," here interposed a young soldier, "he was just outside that God-forsaken hole, 'Le Gros Normand' and politely asked me if it were the best inn in Le Havre."
"I hope you told him it was," said des Coutures with a growl, "we want no stranger here."
"Nor do we want Le Havre to have a reputation for dirt and discomfort," corrected M. le Maire.