"Then," said I, "if you have walked there, we are not far from our destination. I will make you a proposition, my dear. It is that you both come. Nothing will happen to your house for an hour or two, and you can go back to-morrow."
The suggestion appeased her, but the man still seemed afraid.
"How shall I protect her from your countrymen?" said he. "Every road is full of soldiers nowadays. You know what that means, Excellency."
He spoke in Russian, but I gathered his meaning none the less. Precious moments were being lost in this argument, and I would hear no more of it.
"By God!" said I, drawing a pistol from my belt. "If you do not start immediately I will blow your brains out."
The threat was quite sufficient. Methodically the woman caught up a heavy woollen cloak and addressed a few words to her husband in a whisper. A moment later she was haggling with me about terms, for such is the habit of these people.
"You will pay us for our trouble," she protested. "It is a long way to Bobr, messieurs, and we are very poor."
"I will give you a hundred francs if you bring me to the Emperor at daybreak," said I. And, refusing further parley, I went out to the bridle track immediately, and left them to decide. Not a little to my surprise, they followed me without protest, and we all set out again, the woman on Léon's saddle, the young Jew at my horse's head.
I think it was a little warmer by this time; but this may have been due to the wooded nature of the country through which we now rode. A stranger would not have found his way in a lustre of years; so narrow was the path, so dense the trees, that we might have entered an enchanted land full of hobgoblins and far beyond the confines of the civilised world. It was difficult to remember that the Grand Army could not have been ten leagues from us, and were marching and dying this night, as upon so many weary nights since we had left Moscow. For all that, we made good headway, and were apparently about to regain the open country, when the Jew said something to his young wife, and she translated it for our benefit.
"We are coming to a very dangerous place," said she. "Your Excellencies must be prepared. There are robbers here who are a menace to all strangers. We ourselves pay them tribute—a large sum, much more than we can afford. But that concerns ourselves, and they will rob you if they can. Please, therefore, be very careful, and do not speak as you go."