ind him in.

"Indeed," the servant at the door said, "he said he might not return for
some days or weeks."

So Pere Jerome, much wondering, made a second detour toward the
residence of one of Monsieur Vignevielle's employes.

"Yes," said the clerk, "his instructions are to hold the business, as
far as practicable, in suspense, during his absence. Everything is in
another name." And then he whispered:

"Officers of the Government looking for him. Information got from some
of the prisoners taken months ago by the United States brig _Porpoise_.
But"--a still softer whisper--"have no fear; they will never find him:
Jean Thompson and Evariste Varrillat have hid him away too well for
that."

CHAPTER XIII.

TRIBULATION.

The Saturday following was a very beautiful day. In the morning a light
fall of rain had passed across the town, and all the afternoon you could
see signs, here and there upon the horizon, of other showers. The ground
was dry again, while the breeze was cool and sweet, smelling of wet
foliage and bringing sunshine and shade in frequent and very pleasing
alternation.

There was a walk in Pere Jerome's little garden, of which we have not
spoken, off on the right side of the cottage, with his chamber window at
one end, a few old and twisted, but blossom-laden, crape-myrtles on
either hand, now and then a rose of some unpretending variety and some
bunches of rue, and at the other end a shrine, in whose blue niche
stood a small figure of Mary, with folded hands and uplifted eyes. No
other window looked down upon the spot, and its seclusion was often a
great comfort to Pere Jerome.

Up and down this path, but a few steps in its entire length, the priest
was walking, taking the air for a few moments after a prolonged sitting
in the confessional. Penitents had been numerous this afternoon. He was
thinking of Ursin. The officers of the Government had not found him, nor
had Pere Jerome seen him; yet he believed they had, in a certain
indirect way, devised a simple project by which they could at any time
"figs dad law," providing only that these Government officials would
give over their search; for, though he had not seen the fugitive, Madame
Delphine had seen him, and had been the vehicle of communication between
them. There was an orange-tree, where a mocking-bird was wont to sing
and a girl in white to walk, that the detectives wot not of. The law was
to be "figs" by the departure of the three fre