She ran lightly down the steps, and held up her foot for Tom to assist her into the saddle.
"Your friend will return tout de suite, monsieur," she cried gayly, as she drew in the rein.
"And we shall have the pleasure of seeing you again?" asked Tom.
"Ah! who can tell?" She touched the horse lightly with her whip, inclined her head, and soon disappeared down the avenue of maples.
Some time later Nancy and Tom watched her cantering across the beach. She waved her handkerchief as a signal to the schooner; a small boat put ashore, and she was rowed out to The Southern Cross.
"Once Dan is back, and we get rid of the old Marquis," said Tom, "I shall breathe considerably easier."
"I can't believe they will give the game up so easily," was Nancy's reply. "Seizing the Marquis, Tom, was a check, not a mate."
Out on the schooner in the Cove, Madame de la Fontaine and Dan Frost were once more talking together.
"Dear boy," said the lady. "I cannot do that which I promised. It is impossible that your sister shall make to you the request to give me the torn scrap of paper, for the reason that Mademoiselle Nancy has chosen to disappear. Have no fear, monsieur, for I have good reason to believe she has returned to the Inn at the Red Oak. Our schemes, mon ami, have failed. You are no longer a prisoner, you are free. And this is good-bye. I abandon our mission. I leave the House on the Dunes to-day; to-morrow I return to France."
"But, madame, you bewilder me," exclaimed Dan. "Why should you go; why should we not all join forces, hunt for the treasure together, if there is a treasure; why this division of interests?"