"I will see to the matter," said Le Goffic.
"There is something else of importance that I want to discuss with you two," went on La Vireville, lowering his voice; and his two dissimilar lieutenants, seated on the beech-mast like himself, brought themselves nearer. "If—note that I only say if—there were to be an émigré landing, supported by the British Government this summer, somewhere in the Morbihan, do you think that our gars could be relied on to follow me to Southern Brittany to co-operate with it?"
(2)
Anne-Hilarion had picked primroses, as suggested, for Grain d'Orge, but he had not given them to him, for, sensible little boy that he was, he knew the signs of a grown-up being really too absorbed to attend to him, since Grandpapa himself sometimes exhibited them. The most unmistakable of these were written now upon the three men who sat, talking so earnestly, under the beech-tree. He had approached them tentatively once or twice, but even M. le Chevalier took no notice of him—did not, in fact, appear to be aware that he was there—so in the end he presented his second harvest to the other Chouan, who received it with testimonies of extreme gratitude, and arranged some of the flowers round his greasy wide-brimmed hat. This man could not speak a word of French, so all he and Anne could do was to sit side by side on the log and smile spasmodically at each other. Anne regretted that his foreign shell with the stripes was in M. le Chevalier's pocket, for a scheme had just visited him of filling it with water and putting primroses into it. He gave a sudden little yawn. What a long, long time M. le Chevalier was talking. . . .
His head was all but nodding when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and there was M. le Chevalier bending over him.
"Are you bored to death, my child, or asleep?" he asked kindly. "I have been a terrible while talking, have I not? It is Grain d'Orge's fault; he is so obstinate. Now, would you like to come for a little walk in the wood before we have our next meal? There is just time, and I have something to show you."
Anne-Hilarion jumped up from the log with much alacrity.
"What is it that we are going to see, M. le Chevalier?" he asked, as he set off, his hand in his friend's. "Do ogres live in this forest—or giants? Or perhaps there is buried treasure? You know, I have never seen so many trees all together at one time as this. I could not count them, possibly!"
"No, I should think not," agreed La Vireville. "You cannot even see them all. This is the way, where the little path strikes off. I am going to show you, Anne, the château of Kerdronan, where I lived when I was a boy like you."
"Oh, M. le Chevalier, I shall like that!"