Sir Isumbras at the Ford

by D. K. Broster

"How do you know that the Marquis is going away?"

"And hoo should we not ken it, sir?" demanded she, stiffening. "'Tis common news amangst us in the hoose."

"Indeed? Then, as M. de Flavigny himself has only known it for the last quarter of an hour or so, I should recommend you, Mrs. Saunders, to quell this gift of prophecy in your fellow-servants. Above all, see that it is confined to the house. Do you understand?"

And the Frenchman ran downstairs again, a little frown on his forehead, leaving Elspeth petrified with indignation on the landing.

(3)

Down in the hall de Flavigny was speeding the last of his guests. The Chouan went back into the deserted dining-room to wait for him. Standing in front of Janet de Flavigny's picture he looked up at her. He had never seen her in life, for his friendship with her husband was only some two years old, and owed its rapid growth partly, no doubt, to just the right amount of dissimilarity of character between them. Of tougher fibre than his friend, and of a disposition less openly sensitive, Fortuné de la Vireville, who had known more than his share of knocking about the world, had something of an elder brother's protective attitude towards him, though de Flavigny was only three years younger than himself. It was this which was causing him to wait for the Marquis now.

"Shut the door a moment, René, will you," he said, as his friend came back. "How is it that the domestics seem to know so much about your future movements? Mrs. Saunders has just considerably surprised me by telling me that you are going away."

The Marquis looked at him and bit his lip. "I suppose," he said, after a moment, "that I must have said something to Baptiste about preparing my valise in case I went. But Baptiste, of course, is above suspicion."

"Granted. But he repeated that order, not unnaturally perhaps, to the other servants."

"There is no great harm in that," replied de Flavigny, with a smile. "It is not a piece of information of much interest to anyone outside the house, and is not therefore likely to be conveyed elsewhere."