“But their baggage, their effects”
“They were of the lightest, I assure you,” said he, laughing. “Madame la Comtesse carried hers in a kerchief, and Monsieur le Secrétaire had a common soldier's knapsack, and a small bundle in his hand, when he came here.”
I suppose the expression of my face at the ribald tone of this remark must have intimated what I felt, but 'tried to conceal, since he speedily corrected himself, and said, in a voice of apology,—
“It is not, assuredly, at their poverty I would sneer, your Excellency; but for persons of their condition this was not the suitable way to travel.”
“Did they leave no friends behind them who might give a clew to their mysterious departure?”
“Friends! No, your Excellency, they were too proud and too highly born for us of Reichenau,—at least, the Comtesse was; as for Monsieur Raper, poor fellow, he was a teacher at Monsieur Jost's yonder, and rarely seen amongst us.”
“And how do you explain it?—I mean, what explanation was the common one in vogue in the village?”
“As for that, there were all manner of rumors. Some said they had fled from their debts, which was false; for they had sold the little they possessed, and came to pass the two last days here while paying whatever they owed in the village. Some thought that they had been hiding from justice, and that their refuge had been at last discovered; and some, among whom I confess myself one, think that it was with reference to the Count's affairs that they had taken to flight.”
“How do you mean?” asked I.
“Oh, De Gabriac was a 'bad subject,' and, if report speak truly, was implicated in many crimes. One thing is certain: before they had been gone a week, the gensdarmes were here in search of him; they ransacked the lodging for some clew to his hiding-place, and searched the post for letters to or from him.”