Aumale Station in the morning, Lupin took
up his post in a cluster of box and laurels which surrounded the little
esplanade in front of the gate.

At two o'clock he heard the pack give tongue. They approached,
accompanied by hunting-cries, and then drew farther away. He heard them
again, about the middle of the afternoon, not quite so distinctly; and
that was all. But suddenly, amid the silence, the sound of galloping
horses reached his ears; and, a few minutes later, he saw two riders
climbing the river-path.

He recognized the Marquis d'Albufex and Sebastiani. On reaching the
esplanade, they both alighted; and a woman--the huntsman's wife, no
doubt--opened the gate. Sebastiani fastened the horses' bridles to rings
fixed on a post at a few yards from Lupin and ran to join the marquis.
The gate closed behind them.

Lupin did not hesitate; and, though it was still broad daylight, relying
upon the solitude of the place, he hoisted himself to the hollow of
the breach. Passing his head through cautiously, he saw the two men and
Sebastiani's wife hurrying toward the ruins of the keep.

The huntsman drew aside a hanging screen of ivy and revealed the
entrance to a stairway, which he went down, as did d'Albufex, leaving
his wife on guard on the terrace.

There was no question of going in after them; and Lupin returned to his
hiding-place. He did not wait long before the gate opened again.

The Marquis d'Albufex seemed in a great rage. He was striking the leg of
his boot with his whip and mumbling angry words which Lupin was able to
distinguish when the distance became less great:

"Ah, the hound!... I'll make him speak... I'll come back to-night...
to-night, at ten o'clock, do you hear, Sebastiani?... And we shall do
what's necessary... Oh, the brute!"

Sebastiani unfastened the horses. D'Albufex turned to the woman:

"See that your sons keep a good watch... If any one attempts to deliver
him, so much the worse for him. The trapdoor is there. Can I rely upon
them?"

"As thoroughly as on myself, monsieur le marquis," declared the
huntsman. "They know what monsieur le marquis has done for me and what
he means to do for them. They will shrink at nothing."

"Let us mount and get back to the hounds," said d'Albufex.

So things were going as Lupin had supposed. During these runs,
d'Albufex, taking a line of his own, would push off to Mortepierre,
without anybody's suspecting his trick. Sebastiani, who was devoted to