"He looked devilish queer when I saw him last," muttered the General. "Mademoiselle ran after him; they are a pretty pair."
Urbain and Adélaïde both looked at him vaguely; then again at each other.
"Where is he now? Do you know?" she said.
"He left the château, madame, with your daughter and her husband," Urbain said, slowly and indistinctly, grinding his teeth as he spoke.
"Urbain!" she cried.
"What are you saying, monsieur?" growled the General, with his hand on his sword.
"Peace, peace, Monsieur le Général, you will know all presently," Urbain said more calmly. "Some one has betrayed our plans," he went on, looking at Adélaïde, who was white and speechless. "These are my adventures. I went to Paris in search of my son, to find out where he was, and why he had been arrested. I could hear nothing of him. I saw the Préfet de la Police, I saw the Duc de Rovigo, I saw Réal and a dozen more officials. No one knew anything. Finally I saw Duroc, an old acquaintance, and he introduced me to the Emperor. His Majesty was gracious. He gave me a free pardon for Angelot, in case he had been mixed up against his will with any Chouan conspiracies. I pledged my honour for him in the future. But still the mystery remained—I could not find him."
Adélaïde seemed turned to stone. These two gazed at each other, speechless, and did not now give a look or a thought to the third person present. He stood transfixed, listening; the angry blood rushed into his face, then ebbed as suddenly, leaving him a livid, deathlike yellow.
"But mon Dieu, why all this story?" Adélaïde burst out with almost a scream. "What is he to me, your silly Angelot? What did you say just now? My daughter and—I must have heard you wrongly."
Urbain gave a short, crackling laugh. "Nevertheless, I shall go on with my story. I came home a few hours ago. My wife told me that Angelot was safe with his uncle at Les Chouettes." The General started violently, but neither of them noticed him. "We went there together, and found that the boy was gone to La Marinière, to see his mother—Joseph had planned to pack him off out of the way of the police—with his usual discretion—but enough of that."