liberty to return to Paris."

The driver was overwhelming in his thanks; but neither Prosper nor his
friend heard them. They had already started up the new road.

The weather, which had been inclement when they set out, was now
fearful. The rain fell in torrents, and a furious wind howled dismally
through the dense woods.

The intense darkness was rendered more dreary by the occasional
glimmer of the lamps at the distant station, which seemed about to be
extinguished by every new gust of wind.

M. Verduret and Prosper had been running along the muddy road for about
five minutes, when suddenly the latter stopped and said:

"This is Raoul's house."

Before the gate of an isolated house stood the hack which M. Verduret
had followed. Reclining on his seat, wrapped in a thick cloak, was the
driver, who, in spite of the pouring rain, was already asleep, evidently
waiting for the person whom he had brought to this house a few minutes
ago.

M. Verduret pulled his cloak, and said, in a low voice:

"Wake up, my good man."

The driver started, and, mechanically gathering his reins, yawned out:

"I am ready: come on!"

But when, by the light of the carriage-lamps, he saw two men in this
lonely spot, he imagined that they wanted his purse, and perhaps his
life.

"I am engaged!" he cried out, as he cracked his whip in the air; "I am
waiting here for someone."

"I know that, you fool," replied M. Verduret, "and only wish to ask you
a question, which you can gain five francs by answering. Did you not
bring a middle-aged lady here?"

This question, this promise of five francs, instead of reassuring the
coachman, increased his alarm.

"I have already told you I am waiting for someone," he said, "and, if
you don't go away and leave me alone, I will call for help."

M. Verduret drew back quickly.

"Come away," he whispered to Prosper, "the cur will do as he says; and,
alarm once given, farewell to our projects. We must find some other
entrance than by this gate."

They then went along the wall surrounding the garden, in search of a
place where it was possible to climb up.

This was difficult to discover, the wall being twelve feet high, and the
night very dark. Fortunately, M. Verduret was very agile; and, having
decided upon the spot to be scaled, he drew back a few feet, and making
a sudden spring, seized one of the projecting stones above him, and,
drawing himself up by aid of his hands and feet, soon found him