"Well, who knows?" said Lord Grey, jocosely; "perhaps you will set up for yourself as a weaver in Calais, and thus become a subject of Queen Mary. Then the Peuquoys will be united at last after so many years."
"Upon my word! that may very well be," said Jean, artlessly.
Gabriel could not conceal his surprise at hearing the gallant burgher, who had taken such an heroic part in the defence of his town, talk as calmly about becoming an Englishman as of changing his helmet; but a wink which Jean Peuquoy bestowed upon him while Lord Grey was looking the other way reassured Gabriel as to his friend's loyalty, and convinced him that some mystery lay hidden under his joking.
Lord Grey soon dismissed them both.
"To-morrow we will leave St. Quentin for Calais together," he said. "Meanwhile you are at liberty to make such preparations as you choose, and to take your leave of your friends. I allow you to go on your parole so much the more readily," said he, with his peculiar delicacy, "because you will be challenged at the gates, and no one is allowed to leave the town without a permit from the governor."
Gabriel saluted Lord Grey without a word, and left the house with Jean Peuquoy, without noticing that his squire, Martin-Guerre, remained behind instead of following him.
"What is your intention, my friend?" he said to Peuquoy, when they were in the street. "Is it possible that you haven't a hundred crowns to pay your ransom with at once? Why do you persist in making this journey to Calais? Does this armorer cousin really exist? What strange object have you in all this?"
"Hush!" replied Jean Peuquoy, mysteriously. "In this Spanish atmosphere I hardly dare to risk a word. You can rely upon your squire, Martin-Guerre, can you not?"
"I will answer for him," Gabriel answered; "notwithstanding some lapses of memory and occasional backsliding, his is the most faithful heart in the world."
"Good!" said Peuquoy. "We must not send him at once from here, to obtain the money for your ransom at Paris, but take him to Calais with us, and let him start from there. We cannot have too many pairs of eyes."