‘What Madame De Vigne says is quite true,’ resumed the colonel. ‘You must get away from this place without an hour’s delay. I have thought of a plan which will at least insure your safety for a little while to come; after that, you will have to shift for yourself. I knew this part of the country well when a boy. There is a farmhouse kept by an old acquaintance of mine in a lonely valley about two miles from the opposite shore of the lake. I will take you there to-night, and you can stay there till you have decided what your future plans shall be.’ ‘O monsieur, you are too good! I have not deserved this,’ cried the abject wretch. ‘You speak the truth, Laroche; you have not deserved it,’ answered the other gravely. ‘How soon can you be ready to start?’ ‘In ten minutes, monsieur.’ ‘Good.’ ‘But I shall need money, monsieur.’ ‘It shall be found you. Have you any idea as to what your plans will be after you leave the farmhouse?’ ‘I shall endeavour to make my way to London—it is the best hiding-place in the world for those who know it. There I shall lie quiet for a little while. After that’—— He ended with an expressive lifting of his shoulders. ‘If you will get ready, then,’ said the colonel. ‘I too have a few arrangements to make.’ Laroche nodded; then he went to the door, opened it, and gazed furtively up and down the corridor. Not a creature was in sight. He darted away and sped up the thickly carpeted staircase as noiselessly as a shadow. The colonel sent Nanette in search of Archie Ridsdale. He came at once, and as soon as the situation of affairs had been partially explained to him, he was despatched with a message to the boathouse. Then the colonel in his turn left the room. He was only absent three or four minutes, and when he came back he was carrying a small roll of notes in his hand. Mora had subsided into an easy-chair from the moment Colonel Woodruffe had taken charge of the situation, and there she was still sitting. Who could have analysed her thoughts during the last painful quarter of an hour, or have adequately described the varied phases of emotion which ebbed and flowed through her heart! Immediately following on the return of the colonel, came Archie Ridsdale. Each of them was muffled in his ulster, for although the storm had not yet broken over the valley, it might do so at any moment.