afraid," said one. "The excitement has been too much," said a
second; "and he is so old," whispered a third. And the capitaine
stalked about erect on his wooden leg, taking snuff, and striving to
look indifferent; but he also was uneasy in his mind.

Presently La Mere came in again, with a quicker step than before, and
whispered something, first to Adolphe and then to the capitaine,
whereupon they both followed her out of the room.

"Not in her chamber," said Adolphe.

"Then she must be in yours," said the capitaine.

"She is in neither," said La Mere Bauche, with her sternest voice;
"nor is she in the house!"

And now there was no longer an affectation of indifference on the
part of any of them. They were anything but indifferent. The
capitaine was eager in his demands that the matter should still be
kept secret from the guests. She had always been romantic, he said,
and had now gone out to walk by the river side. They three and the
old bath-man would go out and look for her.

"But it is pitch dark," said La Mere Bauche.

"We will take lanterns," said the capitaine. And so they sallied
forth with creeping steps over the gravel, so that they might not be
heard by those within, and proceeded to search for the young wife.

"Marie! Marie!" said La Mere Bauche, in piteous accents; "do come to