hide herself there with her daughter; she begged the lawyer to accompany them, and while excitedly talking, tied a woollen shawl round her head.  Lefebre, who was calmer, told her that he had left Mme. Acquet at Noron in a state of exhaustion, that they must wait until she was in a condition to travel before starting, and that it would be impossible to obtain a carriage at this time of night.  But Mme. de Combray would listen to nothing; she gave her gardener three crowns to go to Noron and tell Mme. Acquet that she must start immediately for Tournebut by Saint-Sylvain and Lisieux; then traversing the deserted streets with Lefebre, who stopped at his house to get the three thousand francs, from the robbery of June 7th, she reached the Val d’Ante and took the road to Caen.

It was very dark; the storm had ceased but the rain still fell heavily.  The old Marquise continued her journey over the flooded roads, defying fatigue and only stopping occasionally to make sure she was not followed.  Lefebre, now afraid also, hastened his steps beside her, bending beneath the weight of his portmanteau filled with crowns.  Neither spoke.  The endless road was the same one taken by the waggon containing the Alencon money on the day of the robbery, and the remembrance of this rendered their wild night march still more tragic.

It was scarcely dawn when the fugitives crossed the wood of Quesnay; at Langannerie they left the highroad and crossed by Bretteville-le-Rabet.  It was now broad daylight, barns were opening, and people looked astonished at this strange couple who seemed to have been walking all night; the Marquise especially puzzled them, with her hair clinging to her cheeks, her skirts soaked and her slippers covered with mud.  But no one dared question them.

At six in the morning Mme. de Combray and her companion arrived at Saint-Sylvain, five good leagues from Falaise.  If Mme. Acquet had succeeded in leaving Noron they ought to meet her there.  Lefebre enquired at the inn, but no one had been there.  They waited for two hours which the lawyer employed in seeking a waggon to go on to Lisieux.  A peasant agreed to take them for fifteen francs paid in advance, and about eight o’clock, as Mme. Acquet had not arrived they decided to start.  They stopped at Croissanville a little further on, and while breakfasting, Lefebre wrote to Lanoe telling him to find Mme. Acquet at once and tell her to hasten to her mother at Tournebut.

The rest of the journey was uneventful.  They reached Lisieux at supper-time and slept there.  The next day Mme. de Combray took two places under an assumed name, in the coach for Evreux, where they arrived in the evening.  The fugitives had a refuge in the Rue de l’Union with an old Chouan named Vergne, who had been in orders before the Revolution, but had become a doctor since the pacification.  Next day Mme. de Combray and Lefebre made five