"I know that. That's why I want to make arrangements as early as
possible."

"Where will you stay in the meanwhile?"

"Possibly at the 'Trois-Dauphins' if I can get a room."

"I shall see you again then. The Emperor will stay there while he is in
Grenoble. Well, good-night, my dear friend," said de Marmont, as he
extended a cordial hand to Clyffurde, who, in the dark, evidently failed
to see it. "And don't take the insults of all these fools too much to
heart." And he gave an expressive nod in the direction of the stately
castle behind him.

"They are dolts," he continued airily; "if they possessed a grain of
sense they would have kept on friendly terms with me. As that old fool's
son-in-law I could have saved him from all the reprisals which will
inevitably fall on all these royalist traitors, now that the Emperor has
come into his own again."

Clyffurde was half-way down the stone steps when these words of de
Marmont struck upon his ear. Instinctively he retraced his steps. There
was a suggestion of impending danger to Crystal in what the young man
had said.

"What do you mean by talking about reprisals?" he asked.

"Oh! . . . only the inevitable," replied de Marmont. "The people of the
Dauphine never cared for these royalists, you know . . . and didn't
learn to like them any better in these past eleven months since the
Restoration. M. le Comte de Cambray has been very high and mighty since
his return from exile. He may yet come to wish that he had never quitted
the comfortable little provincial town in England where he gave drawing
lessons and French lessons to some very bourgeois boys. . . . But here's
that coach at last!" he continued with that jaunty air which he had
assumed since turning his back upon the reception halls of Brestalou.
"Are you sure that you would rather walk than drive with me?"

"No," replied Clyffurde abruptly, "I am not sure. Thank you very much. I
think that if you don't object to my somewhat morose company I would
like a lift as far as Grenoble."

He wanted to make de Marmont talk, to hear what the young man had to
say. From it he thought that he could learn more accurately what danger
would threaten Brestalou in the event of Napoleon's successful march to
Paris.

That the great adventurer's triumph would be short-lived Clyffurde was
perfectly sure. He knew the temper of England and believed in the
military genius of Wellington. England would never tolerate for a moment
longer