"There! I knew it! We have gone astray! Do you hear, messieurs?"
Robineau turned and looked about for his friends; but they had left the cottage while he was talking with the peasant.
"Well done! I’ll bet they have gone off to walk now! They have sworn to kill me with vexation!—But at all events my mind is more at rest about my estate.—Tell me, my good man, how far are we from La Roche-Noire?"
"Why, three short leagues, monsieur, at most."
"Three leagues more! What road must we take?"
"Why! you must go by crossroads now. First to Chadrat; then you will see Saint-Amand, and you can inquire there."
"If we get there before dark, we shall be very lucky!—Well! I’ll run after those gentlemen and then we’ll be off."
Robineau left the cottage and asked some peasants in which direction his companions had gone; they pointed to the lake and he hastened thither and soon discovered Edouard sitting on the shore, writing on his tablets, while Alfred, a little farther on, was dancing with a girl to the strains of a fife played by a small boy.
"Let’s be off, messieurs, it will soon be dark!" cried Robineau.
But Alfred continued to dance and Edouard to write.