He touched the visor of his hunting cap with his finger, and replied:

"It is true--I have lost my way."

Agitated as Marie-Anne was, she could not fail to understand that her
presence was all that restrained the hatred of these two young men.
Their attitude, the glance with which they measured each other, did not
leave the shadow of a doubt on that score. If one was ready to spring
upon the other, the other was on the alert, ready to defend himself.

The silence of nearly a moment which followed was as threatening as the
profound calm which precedes the storm.

Martial was the first to break it.

"A peasant's directions are not generally remarkable for their
clearness," he said, lightly; "and for more than an hour I have been
seeking the house to which Monsieur Lacheneur has retired."

"Ah!"

"I am sent to him by the Duc de Sairmeuse, my father."

Knowing what he did, Maurice supposed that these strangely rapacious
individuals had some new demand to make.

"I thought," said he, "that all relations between Monsieur Lacheneur and
Monsieur de Sairmeuse were broken off last evening at the house of the
abbe."