“You, madame!” he exclaimed.

“Where’s your mother? Where’s your mother?” she panted.

“My mother is at Caen, on business; I am alone in the house.”

She walked to the drawing-room unsteadily and sank into a chair.

“What is the matter? Why are you here?”

She whispered, in a broken voice:

“They came.... They are following me.... I am frightened of them....”

“Simare, was it?... And Le Hourteulx, I suppose ... and Beaufrelant....”

“Yes ... so I daren’t go back....”

“But Adèle ... and her husband?”