“Ma foi! being employed as a spy taught him, no doubt, the trick of practising the trade at home. The rascal must have been acting the spy upon us, and, no doubt, picked up his information by listening, and, maybe, overhauling some of your papers.”
“Curse him! you open my eyes,” said Vadier, bitterly. “But no matter, let us consult what is to be done. Your matrimonial scheme did not answer, your finances are at the lowest ebb, and this day month if you do not pay one hundred and twenty-three thousand francs to Monsieur Marie-Claude-Sanglois, you must surrender this estate and château to be sold.”
“Well, I know that,” carelessly returned Bertram Gramont; “I want something fresh from you. Could you not forge me an order, signed by Madame Coulancourt, for one hundred thousand francs upon her banker?”
“No,” returned Vadier; “the failure in securing those papers Jean Plessis had in his possession throws us out. Her Paris banker has no such sum, depend on it; the bulk of her fortune is disposed of in some other way we have failed in finding out. Monsieur Barras, depend on it, has secured a goodly portion. No, you must still stick to convicting her of attempting flight from this country, the only way you can secure your ends.”
“Diable! she is going to Paris; if Sergeant Perrin fails in entrapping her son at Caudebee, I shall lose all power over her.”
“And are you so shallow as to suppose they will venture to Paris?” said Vadier, contemptuously. “When this affair of the Vengeance is known to the government it will make a stir, Barras will not be able to shield Madame Coulancourt, with all his power and love of gold; her participation and knowledge of the two Englishmen residing under the same roof with her is too palpable, she would be condemned. Depend on it, the whole party meditate flight to England; what is easier? You say they embark at Havre for Rouen in a chasse-mare, the captain of which is a notorious smuggler. Do not you think, for a sum of money, that fellow would run them over and land them on the coast of England?”
“By St. Nicholas! you are right, and if so, all will go well. I’ll catch them in the very act of flight, and then the game will be ours. You must get out of the way, for this Jean Plessis, when detected and caught, will bring his accusation against you.”
“I am not afraid,” replied Vadier, “it’s money I want. I shall go to Paris, there is another convulsion preparing, the jacobins are in force in the capital.”
“You will be a fool if you do,” retorted Bertram Gramont; “mark my word, Bonaparte will by and by upset all the Directors and their rules, annihilate the jacobin party, and establish a powerful military government. However, that’s your look-out; I shall go, to-morrow, to Havre, and make minute inquiries about the embarkation of madame, and then see Captain Gaudet and the owners of the Vengeance privateer, who are furious at her loss. I will have the Ca-Ira chasse-mare closely watched and followed, and if my suspicions are true, she shall be captured just as she clears the harbour. There will be no getting over that disaster, and perhaps Master Louis Lebeau may be a prisoner by that time. There is a very fine privateer, mounting fourteen guns, and one hundred and twenty-three men and officers in Havre, but this British cruiser outside is thought to be watching for her; the privateer is waiting for thick weather to get out. If Captain Gaudet can induce her commander to watch the mouth of the Seine, it’s impossible the chasse-mare can put to sea.”
“I would go on board myself, if I was in your place,” said Augustine Vadier. “Your triumph would be complete.”