"And what is your business?" he inquired.
"I came into this land of inquisitive people to buy mules," laughed
Maurice, striking his belt of money.
On hearing the jingle of the coin the man lifted his cap deferentially.
Raising mules was the chief industry of the country. This bourgeois was
very young, but he had a well-filled purse, and that was enough.
"You will excuse me," resumed the host, in quite a different tone. "You
see, we are obliged to be very careful. There has been some trouble in
Montaignac."
The imminence of the peril and the responsibility devolving upon
him, gave Maurice an assurance unusual to him; and it was in the most
careless, off-hand manner possible that he concocted a quite plausible
story to explain his early arrival on foot accompanied by a sick wife.
He congratulated himself upon his address, but the old corporal was far
from satisfied.
"We are too near the frontier to bivouac here," he grumbled. "As soon as
the young lady is on her feet again we must hurry on."
He believed, and Maurice hoped, that twenty-four hours of rest would
restore Marie-Anne.
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