“Will you render M. de Boiscoran a great service?”

“What must I do?” replied the young man in a tone of voice which said, better than all protestations could have done, that he was ready to do any thing.

“Do you know Trumence?”

“The former basket-weaver of Tremblade?”

“Exactly.”

“Upon my word, don’t I know him? He has stolen apples enough from me, the scamp! But I don’t blame him so much, after all; for he is a good fellow, in spite of that.”

“He was in prison at Sauveterre.”

“Yes, I know; he had broken down a gate near Brechy and”—

“Well, he has escaped.”

“Ah, the scamp!”