"A few minutes later the two men went away. They paid for the wine they had drunk, but said nothing. Pierre breathed more freely when they were gone, and as both he and his two charges were very tired, they soon after went to bed: that is to say, Edmee went to the room prepared for her, and the boys made the best of their corner of the barn. It was a tumble-down old place, and there were several other out-buildings adjoining it; a disused stable was at one end, separated from it only by a wall which ran up as a partition, though leaving a space between its top and the roof. This Pierre happened to notice before he lay down. He was asleep in five minutes, but after some time, how long he knew not, he awoke with a start, something had wakened him, though he could not remember what. He lay perfectly still, and in a moment a sound from the other side of the partition wall, of which I have spoken, caught his ears. It was that of men's voices, though speaking so softly that less sharp ears than those of the forester's boy, trained to distinguish each cry of the wood-creatures, each note of the birds, could have heard nothing. "`I tell you,' said one voice, `I am as sure as I can be. I knew that insolent tone at once, and when I looked I was certain. The girl too-- though who the third is I cannot make out. That baffled me.' "`Then if you were so sure, why give yourself and me all this bother?' grumbled the other. `Why did you not at once seize them? It would be too bad to lose the reward after coming so far, and taking so much trouble.' "`I have told you why,' said the other, speaking more loudly as he got angry. `They might have been too much for us; there is no telling whether they have not got friends in the village. They are in their own country now, and that Valmont lot set up to be benevolent, and all that kind of thing. No, I would not risk any scene; let us wait here quietly and watch them off in the morning--we can see which way they go, and easily take them when they are alone. You have the order for the arrest all right?' "`Yes, but only for the two.' "`Of course; we don't want the country lad, though, perhaps--' But here the voice grew so low that Pierre, strain his ears as he would, could hear no more, till he caught a half-surly `Good-night then' from the second speaker, and all was silent, save the beating of the poor boy's own heart, which sounded to him so unnaturally loud, that he felt as if it could not but be heard through the partition.