M. d'Escorval listened with knitted brows.

"That is not the fire of an engagement," he murmured.

To remain long in such a state of uncertainty was out of the question.

"If you will permit me, father," ventured Maurice, "I will go and
ascertain----"

"_Go_," replied the baron, quietly; "but if it is anything, which I
doubt, do not expose yourself to danger; return."

"Oh! be prudent!" insisted Mme. d'Escorval, who already saw her son
exposed to the most frightful peril.

"Be prudent!" entreated Marie-Anne, who alone understood what
attractions danger might have for a despairing and unhappy man.

These precautions were unnecessary. As Maurice was rushing to the door,
his father stopped him.

"Wait," said he; "here is someone who can probably give us information."

A man had just appeared around a turn of the road leading to Sairmeuse.

He was advancing bareheaded in the middle of the dusty road, with
hurried strides, and occasionally brandishing his stick, as if
threatening an enemy visible to himself alone.