The alluring prospect of a long ride in a postchaise had been purposely held out to the Comte de Flavigny as he regretfully left the Trois Frères, clutching the striped and polished foreign shell which the captain had given him at parting. It was true that there were some rather unpleasant formalities to be gone through first, in a place which he was told was M. le Maire's office, where a man with a red, white, and blue scarf tied in a great bow—a man whom he instinctively disliked—asked M. le Chevalier a great many questions, and looked at him, Anne-Hilarion, very suspiciously. At last, however, he wrote something on the papers which M. le Chevalier had produced, and then they went to a little hôtel and had a meal, and presently Anne was being assisted into a two-horsed postchaise not quite like those he had seen in England.
"All's well that ends well!" said M. le Chevalier, his mouth relaxing, as with great crackings of the postilion's whip they rolled through the streets of Caen. "They were suspicious of thy good uncle, Anne . . . Annibal, I should say. Imagine, they were disinclined to believe what he said—he who has always been noted for his veracity. But the papers of thy other uncle—the one we left behind at Abbeville, in . . . in bed—convinced them at last."
"You had, perhaps, to invent some more histories about us," suggested his fellow-traveller.
"My nephew, I had. However, they need not concern you. Our kinship still continues."
"Of that," remarked the Comte de Flavigny earnestly, "I am glad." He slipped his hand under his friend's arm. "That other, I did not like him. Could you be my uncle in England also, do you think?"
"Yes, little cabbage," said the Chouan, pulling a curl. "I shall be delighted, once in England again, to assume any relationship you please. At present I feel something like an inexperienced grandmother."
Anne-Hilarion gave a squeak of laughter and hugged his arm. "You are so amusing," he said, looking up at La Vireville with appreciative eyes. "How long before we get to England, M. le Chevalier?"
"That I am afraid I cannot tell you. Only a few days, I trust. But this is how we hope to get there. We shall arrive to-night at a place called Vire, and tomorrow we shall go on to Granville, which, as perhaps you know, Anne, is the nearest port, but one, of all France to Jersey. I think, however, that we shall not enter Granville itself, but that somewhere on the coast we will hire a fisherman's boat to take us to Jersey. And Jersey, you know, is English, and from there it is easy to go to England. Also, after we have left Vire, we shall be on the edge of the country of the Chouans of Normandy, and so we may find friends. And thus I have hopes that there will be no difficulty in procuring a boat, provided that nothing disagreeable happens to us in the town of Vire; for in towns, my dear Anne, they have not that entire faith in the candour of your uncle that we could wish."
"Another boat!" exclaimed Anne. "I shall like that, if the sea is not rough. And then another after that! For Jersey is an island, is it not?"
"You are singularly well informed, nephew. Jersey is an island, and one, moreover, which is a good deal nearer to France than to England. Very probably, you will go home in an English man-of-war. I think you are enjoying your tour in France, are you not, nephew Annibal?"