"Yes," was the reply; "he rode by on horseback a few minutes after the
girl."

"Did he ride after her?"

"Ah! you know him, do you?" laughed the village innkeeper, to whom he
had applied for information.

"Yes, to be sure; he's a devil of a fellow for running after the girls.
But I don't believe he caught that one; although, after all, if he had
seen her--"

"That's enough, thanks!" And he flew rather than ran to Leonard's
stable. He threw the saddle on Grise's back, leaped upon her, and
galloped away in the direction of the woods of Chanteloube.

His heart was beating fast with anxiety and wrath, the perspiration
rolled down his forehead. He covered Grise's sides with blood, although
the mare, when she found that she was on the way to her stable, did not
need to be urged to go at full speed.




XIV

THE OLD WOMAN


Germain soon found himself at the spot on the edge of the pool where he