She
had, he declared, perfect confidence in him; and if they would only send
for her, and allow him ten minutes' private conversation with her,
he was sure he could obtain the secret of her father's place of
concealment. So the bargain was quickly concluded.
The prisoner's life was promised, him in exchange for the life of
Lacheneur.
A soldier, who chanced to be Corporal Bavois, was sent to summon
Marie-Anne.
And Chanlouineau waited in terrible anxiety. No one had told him what
had taken place at Escorval, but he divined it by the aid of that
strange prescience which so often illuminates the mind when death is
near at hand.
He was almost certain that Mme. d'Escorval was in Montaignac; he was
equally certain that Marie-Anne was with her; and if she were, he knew
that she would come.
And he waited, counting the seconds by the throbbings of his heart.
He waited, understanding the cause of every sound without,
distinguishing with the marvellous acuteness of senses excited to the
highest pitch by passion, sounds which would have been inaudible to
another person.
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