HAVE THEY BOLTED?
Whilst Juve and Henri de Loubersac were watching through the midnight hours for the arrival of the traitors, Fandor in his hotel was also on the alert. He did not mean to sleep a wink. The noise of the merry-making below helped him in that.... The revellers retired at last, and silence fell on The Flowery Crossways. Fandor, feigning sleep, lay as still as a mouse; but how interminable seemed the hours!
"Ah!" thought Fandor, "if only my abbé were sleeping, I should decamp; but that little bundle of mystery is wide awake: I can sense his wakefulness!"
Fandor lay listening for the next eternity of an hour to strike and pass into limbo.... At last dawn began to break: the window curtains became transparent, a cock crowed in the yard below, the voice of a stable-boy sounded loud in the stillness of early day.
"You are awake, Corporal?" asked the priest in a low voice.
"Quite, Monsieur l'Abbé. You feel rested?"
"I only dosed off a little."
"Liar!" thought Fandor. He replied:
"That is just what I did!" Fandor yawned loudly.
"Will you get up first, Corporal? When you have finished dressing I will start.... In that way we shall not interfere with each other."