“He’ll be struck with the suddenness of a thunderbolt. We’re going to cut him off at Poitiers—when he starts back to his headquarters at Bordeaux.” He snapped his fingers in contempt. “He has seven thousand men who are half starved, weak from long marches and disease. What can they do against these?” He pointed with pride at the men marching past. “When the Black Prince is a prisoner of the King of France,” he went on, scowling in my face with a wicked grin, “we shall move against Normandy——” “The Norman Barons can defeat any army the French can send against them!” I cried. “They have proved that more than once.” He clenched his fingers over my arm till the pain of it shot up through my shoulder. “No, they won’t,” he said, gritting his teeth. “They won’t have time to unite.” “I see it all now,” I cried again. “That is why De Marsac is so anxious. He thinks he has a claim on our estates already. He can’t wait——” A hard expression covered his countenance. “Before the snow flies I shall be toasting my shins before the fire-place in your house,” my captor boasted. “De Marsac has promised that I shall be the bailiff when he is master there.” A long breath like a sob broke from my throat. It was plain to me now for the first time why I was sent on this errand down the valley of the Loire. “Have you ever heard of a youth called ‘Charles of Gramont’?” I demanded. “Of course,” came the answer, “he’s the son of the old Count. He was a prisoner of ours for a while—but escaped——” “—escaped?” The word jumped from my mouth. “Yes,” was the reply. “Gone. Like smoke in the air.” “He has joined the Black Prince!” I exclaimed. “I am glad of that. He will let him know of the danger he is in.” My captor threw back his head and uttered a low grunt that was meant for a laugh. “A fly couldn’t get out of this valley—or into it—unless we knew it,” he said. “That lad has either starved to death or is hiding somewhere in the woods.” A thrill of joy ran up and down every nerve in my body. For a while I stood staring at the soldiers passing before us, but with eyes that did not see. A world of new thoughts was seething in my brain. Then a fresh notion came to me. “Just to think how I have wasted my time,” I said slyly to my captor. “I was sent here to find him. I might as well have remained at home.” He turned on me with a knowing look. “You weren’t sent here for any purpose of the kind,” he answered with as much cunning as he could show. “You came to learn of this army that is passing down the valley of the Loire. You were to find out the numbers of it, where it was heading, how soon it would be ready to strike. In one word you were sent here as a spy!”