"I saw three men in the distance on the mountain."
"Three men! Are they coming in this direction?"
"They act as if they didn’t know where they wanted to go."
"Remain in this cabin; if these men knock at the door, open at once, don’t keep them waiting, and let them come in and rest; if they want refreshment, give them only bread and water; if they ask you questions, you know what you are to answer."
Charlot nodded and returned to his house. The passage leading to the inner house was carefully secured. The vagabond made Isaure go in; she had started when she heard mention of three travellers; a secret presentiment seemed to tell her that they were her protector, with his son and Edouard, searching for her. But the vagabond’s eye had become threatening. He had seized his sword, which had been hidden in a corner of the excavation, and seizing Isaure’s arm, he said to her in a menacing voice:
"If a single cry escapes you while those strangers are with Charlot, if you try to reveal your presence, I swear that I will kill you! Do you swear, therefore, that you will keep the most absolute silence?"
"I swear," replied Isaure, trembling from head to foot; thereupon the vagabond left her in her room and returning to the hole, walked to the boards which formed the rear of Charlot’s house, and placing his eye at a wide crack, saw everything that took place in the room that looked on the path; more than ten minutes passed, and no one arrived; the old shepherd was beginning to think that the travellers whom he had seen had taken another road, when footsteps were heard; they stopped in front of the house and a voice exclaimed:
"Here is a house, at all events."
The vagabond started at that voice, for he recognized it as Edouard’s. There was a knock at the door, Charlot opened, and the vagabond shuddered as he saw the Baron de Marcey, Edouard and Alfred enter.
"Excuse us, my friend, if we disturb you," said the baron, while the young men glanced curiously about them. "We are tired; the roads are so bad in these mountains that we were obliged to leave our horses in the village below; may we rest a moment here?"