The ravine of Lysboisée lifted its towering further wall of dark undergrowth immediately behind the château. A narrow path, frequently stepped, zigzagging through the hanger in steep gradients, made the ascent of the sheer acclivity possible. Side by side they walked their horses up, bending often in the saddle to escape the low overhanging branches. They rode in silence, each in their own thoughts. She glanced sideways at her companion. It was the face of a soldier, not of a lover. Obviously he pondered some problem. She sighed. This undisturbed solitude, the screen of thick woodland arching over them, on the two pacing animals that nosed each other amicably, awoke primitive instincts in her. But she kept silence, made no movement. At last, as though summoned by her thought, he turned his head towards her. "You have received bad news, mon ami?" she asked. "Orders that throw a heavy responsibility upon me," he answered. Again they relapsed into silence. The ascent continued. Only a few yards short of the summit did the undergrowth cease. For a dozen paces the path ran over bare close-cropped grass, then, sunk in a rough cutting, surmounted the crest. A little beyond, on the open down, the grand'garde--a weak company of Zouaves--was digging energetically at shelter-trenches. The colonel spoke with the officer, rode on. "Would you please take me to the highest point, chère amie?" he asked. The countess bowed her head, without a word. A touch of the spur, and he followed her at an easy, touch-controlled canter, his horse eager to get abreast the mare. At last she reined up, met his eyes with a smile. They stood upon a knoll in the downs, wide-spaced horizon all round. Far to the south and east were the dark masses of the Forêt de Laigue. From beyond them came a heavy distant roll of artillery. The colonel listened, searching the panorama with narrowed eyes. At his request she pointed out localities and the direction of localities. He turned to look backward, saw the lips of the ravine widening out to the south-east until the slopes fell into another valley. His face hardened. "Let us go back, chère amie," he said. "As quickly as possible." At a swift, swinging gallop--the skirts of her amazon fluttering in the wind--they hastened back to the grand'garde. The officer came up. The colonel took out his note-book. "Have you any spades or farm implements, madame?" he asked. He nodded to her affirmation, writing the while in his note-book. He tore out the page, folded it, gave it to the officer. "To be delivered to the Commandant Legros at the Château. Without delay." Then he turned his horse and, followed by his companion, rode slowly along the lip of the ravine. She searched his features, anxiously. He stopped in a depression of the down, out of sight of the grand'garde. He turned to her, and her heart fluttered at the tenderness of his face.