"And you think you would know this thicket?"
"Unquestionably, madame. It is only about ten rods from the sign-post on the main road to the château."
"What a distance it is, Jean François! Shall we never get there?"
"It will take a quarter of an hour longer."
"A quarter of an hour!" murmured the young mother. "Alas! so many things may happen in a quarter of an hour."
Madame Bastien and her guide hurried on, though more than once the young woman was obliged to press both hands upon her breast to still the violent throbbing of her heart.
"What time do you think it is, Jean François?" she asked a few minutes afterward.
"Judging from the moon, I think it must be about seven o'clock."
"And when we reach the edge of the forest we are near the thicket, you say?"
"Not more than a hundred yards at most, madame."