She heard the officers laughing and talking among themselves. She saw one of the men jump from his horse, tighten a saddle girth, and remount with an agile spring. Then Colonel von Waldenmeer approached and addressed some remark to Robert Tournay. The latter, who had been sitting erect and motionless upon his horse, turned slightly in the saddle to answer the Prussian officer.
Edmé could see that his features were set and their expression stern.
Colonel von Waldenmeer mounted his own horse, gave a word of command, and the party started forward.
Edmé watched them as they went up the road. Ten horses riding two abreast, the snow flying out from under the heels of the galloping hoofs. She watched them until the square shoulders of Colonel Tournay were hardly distinguishable from those of Colonel Karl who rode beside him. The cavalcade disappeared around a bend in the road, and Edmé turned from the wintry aspect without to the dreary salon with a heavy heart.
CHAPTER XII
THE FOUR COMMISSIONERS
Under the escort of Karl von Waldenmeer and half a dozen of his French officers, Tournay and Gaillard rode rapidly toward the French boundary.
It had stopped snowing during the night, and the weather was clear and cold.
They rode in silence, no sound being heard but the regular dull beating of their horses' hoofs on the snow-covered ground.