Noting these signs,and doubting if I could trust even Maignan,Ithought it prudent to change my place,and falling to the rear,rode there with a grim face and a pistol ready to my hand.It was not the least of my annoyances that M.d'Agen appeared to be ignorant of any cause for apprehension save such as lay before us,and riding on in the same gloomy fit which had possessed him from the moment of starting,neither sought my opinion nor gave his own,but seemed to have undergone so complete and mysterious a change that I could think of one thing only that could have power to effect so marvellous a transformation.I felt his presence a trial rather than a help,and reviewing the course of our short friendship,which a day or two before had been so great a delight to me--as the friendship of a young man commonly is to one growing old--I puzzled myself with much wondering whether there could be rivalry between us.
Sunset,which was welcome to my company,since it removed the haze,which they regarded with superstitious dread,found us still plodding through a country of low ridges and shallow valleys,both clothed in oak-woods.Its short brightness died away,and with it my last hope of surprising Bruhl before Islept.Darkness fell upon us as we wended our way slowly down a steep hillside where the path was so narrow and difficult as to permit only one to descend at a time.A stream of some size,if we might judge from the noise it made,poured through the ravine below us,and presently,at the point where we believed the crossing to be,we espied a solitary light shining in the blackness.To proceed farther was impossible,for the ground grew more and more precipitous;and,seeing this,I bade Maignan dismount,and leaving us where we were,go for a guide to the house from which the light issued.
He obeyed,and plunging into the night,which in that pit;between the hills was of an inky darkness,presently returned with a peasant and a lanthorn.I was about to bid the man guide us to the ford,or to some level ground where we could picket the horses,when Maignan gleefully cried out that he had news.Iasked what news.
'Speak up,MANANT!'he said,holding up his lanthorn so that the light fell on the man's haggard face and unkempt hair.'Tell his Excellency what you have told me,or I will skin you alive,little man!'
'Your other party came to the ford an hour before sunset,'the peasant answered,staring dully at us.'I saw them coming,and hid myself.They quarrelled by the ford.Some were for crossing,and some not.'
'They had ladies with them?'M.d'Agen said suddenly.
'Ay,two,your Excellency,'the clown answered,'riding like men.
In the end they did not cross for fear of the plague,but turned up the river,and rode westwards towards St.Gaultier.'
'St.Gaultier!'I said,'Where is that?Where does the road to it go to besides?'
But the peasant's knowledge was confined to his own neighbourhood.He knew no world beyond St.Gaultier,and could not answer my question.I was about to bid him show us the way down,when Maignan cried out that he knew more.
'What?'I asked.
'Arnidieu!he heard them say where they were going to spend the night!'
'Ha!'I cried.'Where?'
'In an old ruined castle two leagues from this,and between here and St.Gaultier,'the equerry answered,forgetting in his triumph both plague and panic.'What do you say to that,your Excellency?It is so,sirrah,is it not?'he continued,turning to the peasant.'Speak,Master Jacques,or I will roast you before a slow fire!'
But I did not wait to hear the answer.Leaping to the ground,Itook the Cid's rein on my arm,and cried impatiently to the man to lead us down.
