“Sacre! that’s lucky! Then we will be off and join them. Come, my lads, finish your grub, and let us join Moret and his crew; we may get her off and into the creek; the tide’s rising, and the water’s smooth.”
There was then a murmuring of several voices, the laugh of some female, and the party left the house.
Lieutenant Thornton remained immersed in thought; so strange did it appear to him that any one connected with the Duchess of Coulancourt should be living on that part of the French coast, and that he should so strangely stumble upon the spot; he felt he was in a dangerous situation, and he wondered that Pierre Gaudet did not hear about them from the girl who had seen them enter, and the one that was cooking, with whom Bill Saunders had been so over polite, or the lad who had directed them to the house. Altogether it was a strange adventure.
Bill, who by this time had satisfied his appetite, looked at his officer, but was afraid to open his lips. However, in a few minutes the door was unlocked, and Dame Moret entered the room, closing the door.
“Ah! mon pauvre garçon,” said the dame, “what an escape you have had from that sea brute! You must not stay here a moment; but I will save you from him. Why he did not kill you when you were in his power, I can’t think.”
“But, my good dame, I am longing to ask you a thousand questions. Did you hear what became of the duchess and Jean Plessis, after she was carried off at Toulon?”
“Oh, yes, my dear sir, and saw her too, not three months ago; but there is no time now for explanations. I must seek a place of safety, for my son-in-law will surely try to track you. Where I send you I shall be able to communicate with and see you, and in a few days I may be enabled to get you to sea.”
“I am sure,” replied our hero, “I know not how to express my gratitude. I will go anywhere you please for a day or two. I cannot promise to bear confinement longer; besides, I am perhaps placing you in peril. These are sad times in this country.”
“Oh, thank God,” said Dame Moret, “the worst is passed! the Reign of Terror has ended; but we must not lose time; some odd circumstance might bring Pierre Gaudet back. Do you go out through that door,” continued the dame, “and you will thus get out at the back into the orchard. I will send my daughter round to meet you; follow her, and she will take you to a place where you will both be safe; but pray impress upon your follower the necessity of caution and quietness.”
So saying, Dame Moret passed out through the door, and Lieutenant Thornton, turning to Bill, explained to him their situation, and the necessity of discretion.