"
The officers, who had left the litter a short distance from the inn,
decided that they could confide at least a part of their secret to this
man.
"We are carrying one of our wounded comrades," they said to him. "Can
you guide us across the frontier to-night?"
The innkeeper replied that he would do so very willingly, that he would
promise to take them safely past the military posts; but that he would
not think of going upon the mountain before the moon rose.
By midnight the fugitives were _en route_; by daybreak they set foot on
Piedmont territory.
They had dismissed their guide some time before. They now proceeded to
break the litter in pieces; and handful by handful they cast the wool of
the mattress to the wind.
"Our task is accomplished," the officer said to Maurice. "We will now
return to France. May God protect you! Farewell!"
It was with tears in his eyes that Maurice saw these brave men, who had
just saved his father's life, depart. Now he was the sole protector of
Marie-Anne, who, pale and overcome with fatigue and emotion, trembled on
his arm.
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