chman on the tower--who could not have seen us in the woods and
distant lanes--and considering what to do. The bloodhounds would
doubtless be put upon the Countess's scent, but they would lose it at
the place where we had taken horse. And then, Hugues thought, having
tracked us into the forest, the Count would assume that we had continued
our flight through it without change of direction, and he would push on
to St. Arnoult, and along the road to Chateaurenault and Tours. This
was, indeed, the most likely supposition. The Count would scarce expect
to find us harboured in any house in the neighbourhood, and he knew
nothing of Hugues's attachment to Mathilde. Still I thought it well that
the Countess should travel on as far as possible that night, and I asked
her if she felt able to do so after stopping at Hugues's house for some
food.

"Oh, yes," she answered compliantly.

I then broke to her that Hugues's and I had provided a suit of boy's
clothes which she might substitute for her present attire at his house,
and so travel with less likelihood of attracting notice. To this she
made no objection. She seemed, on leaving the chateau, to have resigned
herself, almost languidly, to guidance. A kind of listlessness had come
over her, which I attributed to exhaustion of spirit after all she had
experienced.

I then told her that Hugues and I had decided it best that Mathilde
should stay at his house for the present, keeping very close and having
the hiding-place accessible, while I went on with the Countess. Hugues
himself, who could entirely trust his old woman-servant and his boy,
would see us as far as to our first resting-place.

To these proposals also she said "Very well," in a tone of
half-indifference, but she cast a long, sad look at Mathilde, at mention
of leaving her.

"And then, Madame," I went on, "as to our journey after we leave
Hugues's house. You have said you are without relations or fortune."

"Alas, yes. A provision for life-maintenance at the convent was all the
fortune left me."

"In that case, I ask you, in the name of my father and mother, to honour
them as their guest at La Tournoire. I can promise you a safe and
private refuge there: I can promise you the friendship of my mother, the
protection of my father, and his good offices with the King, if need be,
to secure your rightful claims when the Count de Lavardin dies, as he
must before many years."

"No, no, Monsieur, I shall have no claims