Count Hannibal

The Countess had a thought which slowly flooded her face with crimson.

Madame St. Lo saw the change, saw the tender light which on a sudden

softened the other's eyes; and the same thought occurred to her. And

having a mind to punish her companion for her reticence--for she did not

doubt that the girl knew more than she acknowledged--she proposed that

they should return and find Badelon, and learn if he had seen the man.

"Why?" Madame Tavannes asked. And she stood stubbornly, her head high.

"Why should we?"

"To clear it up," the elder woman answered mischievously. "But perhaps,

it were better to tell your husband and let his men search the coppice."

The colour left the Countess's face as quickly as it had come. For a

moment she was tongue-tied. Then-"Have we not had enough of seeking and being sought?" she cried, more

bitterly than befitted the occasion. "Why should we hunt him? I am not

timid, and he did me no harm. I beg, Madame, that you will do me the

favour of being silent on the matter."

"Oh, if you insist? But what a pother--"

"I did not see him, and he did not see me," Madame de Tavannes answered

vehemently. "I fail, therefore, to understand why we should harass him,

whoever he be. Besides, M. de Tavannes is waiting for us."

"And M. de Tignonville--is following us!" Madame St. Lo muttered under

her breath. And she made a face at the other's back.

She was silent, however. They returned to the others and nothing of

import, it would seem, had happened. The soft summer air played on the

meal laid under the willows as it had played on the meal of yesterday

laid under the chestnut-trees. The horses grazed within sight, moving

now and again, with a jingle of trappings or a jealous neigh: the women's

chatter vied with the unceasing sound of the mill-stream. After dinner,

Madame St. Lo touched the lute, and Badelon--Badelon who had seen the

sack of the Colonna's Palace, and been served by cardinals on the

knee--fed a water-rat, which had its home in one of the willow-stumps,

with carrot-parings. One by one the men laid themselves to sleep with

their faces on their arms; and to the eyes all was as all had been

yesterday in this camp of armed men living peacefully.

But not to the Countess! She had accepted her life, she had resigned

herself, she had marvelled that it was no worse. After the horrors of

Paris the calm of the last two days had fallen on her as balm on a wound.

Worn out in body and mind, she had rested, and only rested; without

thought, almost without emotion, save for the feeling, half fear, half

curiosity, which stirred her in regard to the strange man, her husband.

Who on his side left her alone.