otice the effect of his
answer. The lady, uneasy and anxious to discover at once if the speech
meant danger or was merely accidental, said to Corentin in a natural
tone and manner; "How little security there is on these roads. We were
attacked by Chouans just beyond Mortagne. My son came very near being
killed; he received two balls in his hat while protecting me."

"Is it possible, madame? were you in the mail-coach which those brigands
robbed in spite of the escort,--the one we have just come by? You
must know the vehicle well. They told me at Mortagne that the Chouans
numbered a couple of thousands and that every one in the coach was
killed, even the travellers. That's how history is written! Alas!
madame," he continued, "if they murder travellers so near to Paris you
can fancy how unsafe the roads are in Brittany. I shall return to Paris
and not risk myself any farther."

"Is Mademoiselle de Verneuil young and handsome?" said the lady to the
hostess, struck suddenly with an idea.

Just then the landlord interrupted the conversation, in which there was
something of an angry element, by announcing that breakfast was ready.
The young sailor offered his hand to his mother with an air of false
familiarity that confirmed the suspicions of Corentin, to whom the youth
remarked as he went up the stairway: "Citizen, if you are travelling
with the female citizen de Verneuil, and she accepts the landlord's
proposal, you can come too."

Though the words were said in a careless tone and were not inviting,
Corentin followed. The young man squeezed the lady's hand when they were
five or six steps above him, and said, in a low voice: "Now you see
the dangers to which your imprudent enterprises, which have no glory in
them, expose us. If we are discovered, how are we to escape? And what a
contemptible role you force me to play!"

All three reached a large room on the upper floor. Any one who has
travelled in the West will know that the landlord had, on such an
occasion, brought forth his best things to do honor to his guests, and
prepared the meal with no ordinary luxury. The table was carefully laid.
The warmth of a large fire took the dampness from the room. The linen,
glass, and china were not too dingy. Corentin saw at once that the
landlord had, as they say familiarly, cut himself into quarters to
please the strangers. "Consequently," thought he, "these people are
not what they pretend to be. That young man is clever. I too