An hour later the two women, dressed as peasants, with faces and hands brown from apparent exposure to the sun in the hayfield, left the park behind the château de Rochefort, and made their way along a hedge-bound lane that wound through the fields. As they reached the crest of a hill they stopped and looked back at the château. A red glow appeared in the eastern sky. "Look, Agatha," said Edmé, "morning is coming, the sun is about to rise." Suddenly the glow leaped into a broad flame which lit up the whole sky. "'Tis the château on fire!" cried both women in one breath, and clinging to each other they stood and watched it burn. CHAPTER VII GAILLARD GOES ON A JOURNEY The first object that Robert Tournay saw as he rode into the inn yard at La Thierry was a horse reeking with sweat. The next moment he was greeted by the smiling face of Gaillard, who came out of the inn. "Have you brought the passport?" cried Tournay eagerly, as he grasped his friend by the hand. For reply Gaillard took a paper from his pocket, unfolded it, and disclosed the seal of the Committee of Public Safety. "Am I in time?" he asked. "I have ridden post haste to get here with it. Can I serve you further?" "Come into the inn, and I'll tell you," replied Tournay. "I am almost exhausted and must have something to eat." Ordering some supper and a bottle of wine, which were brought at once, Tournay helped Gaillard and himself bountifully. They ate and drank for a few minutes in silence, Gaillard waiting for him to speak. Gaillard was rather short in stature, with a pair of broad, athletic shoulders. His face was freckled, and animated by a pair of particularly active blue eyes. A large mouth, instead of adding to his plainness, was rather attractive than otherwise, for on all occasions it would widen into the most encouraging, good-natured smile, showing two rows of regular, white teeth, firmly set in a strong jaw. After he had partaken of a little food and drink, Tournay recounted to Gaillard the substance of what had taken place at the château, leaving out most of his final interview with Edmé de Rochefort, but dwelling on her flat refusal to accept his escort to the frontier. The actor listened to him intently and in silence; his face, usually humorous, expressive of deep and earnest thought. "Now what do you advise?" asked Tournay, as he pushed back his plate and emptied the last of the wine into Gaillard's glass. "What plan have you?" questioned Gaillard. "I mean to take her away from here at all hazards," answered Tournay. "Quite right," nodded Gaillard. "But I can't very well pick her up and carry her off bodily," continued Tournay. "And if I did she would be quite capable of surrendering herself into the hands of the first committee in the first town where they stop us to examine our passport." "Then we must induce her to go of her own free will." "Which she will not do," replied Tournay gloomily.