"Last Wednesday," answered Mr. Elphinstone, looking dazed. "But what in God's name do you mean, M. de la Vireville? He got there safely. I have even had a letter from him to-day in which he speaks of the two kind ladies--see, 'The two old ladies who are very gentle to me'--he means kind, _gentil_; he often uses that expression--'and their grey cat.' So it is all true, and he is there. . . . I do not understand you." "Of course he got there safely--would to God he had not!" exclaimed La Vireville in a sort of desperation. "But, all the same, those two kind old ladies are spies in the pay of the Convention. We have only recently discovered it, to our cost. And clever! . . . How did they get their information--know that René was leaving England just at this time, even know the name of Anne's nurse?" "It must be all right," reiterated Mr. Elphinstone piteously. "No one could have told them but René himself." "Mr. Elphinstone, I repeat, René never went to Canterbury! I myself set him a mile or two on his way to Harwich. That is the one mistake these women have made, or, it may be, a risk that they deliberately ran, trusting that you would not know the route your son-in-law took--as you did not. As for the rest, there has been treachery somewhere--in the house, almost certainly. . . . I warned René. . . . However, time is too valuable to spend in finding out who sold them information. The more pressing matter is to get the child back before it is too late." Mr. Elphinstone put his hand to his head. "Too late! . . . I still do not understand. What could they do to him?" "Anne knows a good many things it were better he did not know, sir. I fear that I am responsible for some of his knowledge. That is no doubt why they wanted him." "You mean they----" "They will try to get information out of him. Oh, they will not do him any bodily harm; it would not advantage them; but they may frighten him, le pauvre petit! He will come back to you, sir, never fear"--for the old man had sunk into a chair and had hidden his face--"but I am very much afraid he will leave something behind. They will wheedle secrets out of him, for he knows things--he cannot help but know them." "What is to be done?" asked Mr. Elphinstone hoarsely, his head still between his hands. "I think I had best post off to Canterbury instantly. Give me your written authority to bring the child back at once." "But you--you were going to Jersey . . . and ought you, M. de la Vireville, of all people, to run your head into a nest of spies, as you say they are?" La Vireville gave a shrug. "That cannot be helped," said he. "Believe me, it will be much more difficult if you send an Englishman. Moreover, it is very necessary that I should discover, if I can, how much they have got out of Anne. Do not set the law in motion unless I neither return to-morrow nor send you news. And--you must pardon me--but I shall want money, possibly a good deal of money."