"Alison, come quick; it is our master!"
Saying this the gardener threw open the gate to Robert Estienne. The latter alighted from his horse, and giving the reins to his servant said:
"Good evening, Michael. Any news?"
"Oh, monsieur, many things—"
"Does my guest run any danger? Has any indiscretion been committed?"
"No, thanks to God, monsieur. You may be easy on that score. You can rely upon my wife as upon myself. No one suspects at the village that there is anyone hiding at the house."
"What, then, has happened, since my last call? Alison brought me this morning a note from the friend to whom I am giving asylum. But although the note urged my coming here, it indicated nothing serious."
"No doubt the person who is here, monsieur, reserves for his own telling the news that he is no longer alone at the house."
"How is that?"
"Day before yesterday, the tall one-eyed fellow who comes here from time to time, and always at night, called in broad daylight, mounted upon a little cart, drawn by a donkey and filled with straw. He told me to watch the cart, and he went in search of your guest. The two came out together, and out of the straw in the cart they pulled—a monk!"