“Return to your watch,” said the latter. “Play with the handles of the blinds and see what you can inside; look about you everywhere, even on the roof.” Corentin darted rapidly in the direction given him, and thought he recognized Mademoiselle de Verneuil through the fog; he did, in fact, overtake her just as she reached the guard-house. “Where are you going?” he said; “you are pale--what has happened? Is it right for you to be out alone? Take my arm.” “Where is the commandant?” she asked. Hardly had the words left her lips when she heard the movement of troops beyond the Porte Saint-Leonard and distinguished Hulot’s gruff voice in the tumult. “God’s thunder!” he cried, “I never saw such fog as this for a reconnaissance! The Gars must have ordered the weather.” “What are you complaining of?” said Mademoiselle de Verneuil, grasping his arm. “The fog will cover vengeance as well as perfidy. Commandant,” she added, in a low voice, “you must take measures at once so that the Gars may not escape us.” “Is he at your house?” he asked, in a tone which showed his amazement. “Not yet,” she replied; “but give me a safe man and I will send him to you when the marquis comes.” “That’s a mistake,” said Corentin; “a soldier will alarm him, but a boy, and I can find one, will not.” “Commandant,” said Mademoiselle de Verneuil, “thanks to this fog which you are cursing, you can surround my house. Put soldiers everywhere. Place a guard in the church to command the esplanade on which the windows of my salon open. Post men on the Promenade; for though the windows of my bedroom are twenty feet above the ground, despair does sometimes give a man the power to jump even greater distances safely. Listen to what I say. I shall probably send this gentleman out of the door of my house; therefore see that only brave men are there to meet him; for,” she added, with a sigh, “no one denies him courage; he will assuredly defend himself.” “Gudin!” called the commandant. “Listen, my lad,” he continued in a low voice when the young man joined him, “this devil of a girl is betraying the Gars to us--I am sure I don’t know why, but that’s no matter. Take ten men and place yourself so as to hold the cul-de-sac in which the house stands; be careful that no one sees either you or your men.” “Yes, commandant, I know the ground.” “Very good,” said Hulot. “I’ll send Beau-Pied to let you know when to play your sabres. Try to meet the marquis yourself, and if you can manage to kill him, so that I sha’n’t have to shoot him judicially, you shall be a lieutenant in a fortnight or my name’s not Hulot.” Gudin departed with a dozen soldiers. “Do you know what you have done?” said Corentin to Mademoiselle de Verneuil, in a low voice.