a jest, sir. This--'

What more she would have said I was left to guess, for at that
moment her attendant I had no doubt now which was mademoiselle
and which Fanchette--suddenly laid her hand on her mistress's
mouth and pointed to the room behind them. A second's suspense,
and with a wanting gesture the two turned and disappeared through
the window.

I lost no time in regaining the shelter of the trees; and
concluding, though I was far from satisfied with the interview,
that I could do nothing more now, but might rather, by loitering
in the neighbourhood, awaken suspicion, I remounted and made for
the highway and the village, where I found my men in noisy
occupation of the inn, a poor place, with unglazed windows, and a
fire in the middle of the earthen floor. My first care wets to
stable the Cid in a shed at the back, where I provided for its
wants as far as I could with the aid of a half-naked boy, who
seemed to be in hiding there.

This done, I returned to the front of the house, having pretty
well made up my mind how I would set about the task before me.
As I passed one of the windows, which was partially closed by a
rude curtain made of old sacks, I stopped to look in. Fresnoy
and his four rascals were seated on blocks of wood round the
hearth, talking loudly and fiercely, and ruffling it as if the
fire and the room were their own. A pedlar, seated on his goods
in one corner, was eyeing them with evident fear and suspicion;
in another corner two children had taken refuge under a donkey,
which some fowls had chosen as a roosting-pole. The innkeeper, a