"I tell you, Monsieur, that all the avenues are guarded."
"There are always lurking-places in the mountains not known to the enemy, and which the inhabitants can use all the more safely," said Alison with great positiveness. "This very afternoon I heard the officers express their opinion, that in spite of the sharpest watch, a secret understandings till existed between the village and the mountains, and in this case there must be such a path."
"Possibly. But I know of none."
Instead of answering, Alison drew forth his letter-case, took from it a bank-note and silently held it towards the old man. He must have known the value of this piece of paper, and it must have been very great, for he gazed in terror at the American.
"The price of the path," said he curtly.
"I do not allow myself to be bribed, Monsieur," said the Frenchman decidedly.
Alison quietly laid the banknote on the table. "Not by the Germans, I understand that in advance! They might offer you tenfold this sum, and it would be in vain. But I do not belong to them,--I am not their friend. Did my business concern their interests, I should be allowed to pass their line. The fact that I am compelled to seek your aid, may prove to you that as a Frenchman you can assume the responsibility of this treachery. You must tell me the way!"
The argument was just, and the lordly confidence of the American did not fail of its effect upon the old steward; still he did not yield.
"Would you go alone, Monsieur?"
"Certainly."