ot, therefore, be very far away,
the more so as he had taken the precaution to remove the ladder, in
order to prevent the inmates of the house from using it. And soon she
saw him skirting the remains of the old cloister. She put the gun to
her shoulder, calmly took aim and fired. The man fell.

"That's done it! That's done it!" said one of the servants. "We've got
this one. I'll run down."

"No, Victor, he's getting up.... You had better go down by the
staircase and make straight for the little door in the wall. That's the
only way he can escape."

Victor hurried off, but, before he reached the park, the man fell down
again. Raymonde called the other servant:

"Albert, do you see him down there? Near the main cloister?--"

"Yes, he's crawling in the grass. He's done for--"

"Watch him from here."

"There's no way of escape for him. On the right of the ruins is the
open lawn--"

"And, Victor, do you guard the door, on the left," she said, taking up
her gun.

"But, surely, you are not going down, miss?"

"Yes, yes," she said, with a resolute accent and abrupt movements; "let
me be--I have a cartridge left--If he stirs--"

She went out. A moment later, Albert saw her going toward the ruins. He
called to her from the window:

"He's dragged himself behind the cloister. I can't see him. Be careful,
miss--"

Raymonde went round the old cloisters, to cut off the man's retreat,
and Albert soon lost sight of her. After a few minutes, as he did not
see her return, he became uneasy and, keeping his eye on the ruins,
instead of going down by the stairs he made an effort to reach the
ladder. When he had succeeded, he scrambled down and ran straight to
the cloisters near which he had seen the man last. Thirty paces
farther, he found Raymonde, who was searching with Victor.

"Well?" he asked.

"There's no laying one's hands on him," replied Victor.

"The little door?"

"I've been there; here's the key."

"Still--he must--"

"Oh, we've got him safe enough, the scoundrel--He'll be ours in ten
minutes."

The farmer and his son, awakened by the shot, now came from the farm
buildings, which were at some distance on the right, but within the
circuit of the walls. They had met no one.

"Of course not," said Albert. "The ruffian can't have left the
ruins--We'll dig him out of some hole or other."

They organized a methodical search, beating every bush, pulling aside
the heavy masses of ivy rolled round the shafts