"What does he mean?" asked Jeanne at last.
"He means to give us a warning, the poor, kind old man," said Simon. "I doubt not, he made his errand on purpose."
"Why did he not speak more plainly then?" said Jeanne in some impatience. "Of what use is such a warning as that?"
"I suppose he dared not. Remember, my Jeanne, in what a difficult place he stands. He has risked the displeasure of his superiors already by not giving information."
"But what can he mean by wolves on the road to Sartilly?" asked Jeanne.
"That we must find out, and meantime we must be doubly on our guard."
"They are all alike—all wolves alike!" said the old man, in his thin voice. "Some are in their own skin, some in sheep's clothing; some are like the loup-garou,* and speak with the voice of a man; and they are the worst of all."
* What the Germans call the wehr-wolf, a creature compounded of brute and human.
"I do not think the curé looks much like a wolf," I ventured to say; for I had been rather taken with the old man's ways. "He is too fat. Wolves are always thin, and they howl and snarl."
"Ah, mademoiselle! But remember the loup-garou can take any forum or any voice he pleases," said the old man.