Captain Gaudet readily enough told him all he knew: that it was the same officer who had shot his brother-in-law, and took the Bon-Citoyen schooner; but he could not say what became of him and his companion. He said, very likely that they were drowned; but Monsieur Gramont thought that it was not probable. He made the captain describe the two men minutely, and from his description he felt almost satisfied that Monsieur de Tourville and his servant, Pierre Bompart, were the English officer and his man. He at once set François Perrin, Sergeant of the Inspecting Gendarmes, to make all kind of inquiries, cautiously, so as not to excite suspicion. So well did the sergeant manage it, that he found out that two tall men, dressed as sailors, supposed to be French sailors, had crossed the sands to the village of Caux, on the morning after the burning wreck came ashore, and had been observed to enter the village, but were not seen after. More the sergeant could not learn; however, that was enough for Bertram Gramont. Giving the sergeant a handsome present, he desired him to remain quiet for awhile. Bertram Gramont now felt satisfied he knew who Monsieur de Tourville was; but that by no means cleared up all the mystery of the affair to him. He was convinced there was a great deal more to be found out. He did not care about the arrest of the Englishmen; the finding them domiciled in Coulancourt, under the names of De Tourville and Bompart, was mysterious; but ten times more so when a Mademoiselle de Tourville arrived. He set a careful spy upon the movements of the inhabitants of Coulancourt; and as a guide, he ordered Sergeant Perrin to pay a visit to Dame Moret’s, and also to the château; to excite no suspicion, but merely to perform his actual duty, inquiring the names, looking at their papers, &c., and then to come to him. The spy brought him word that a party was going to the Hermit’s Grotto on the following day; so, with Vadier, now much transmogrified by beard and whiskers and false eyebrows, he rode to the place, left Vadier with the horses, and crossed the rocks. Our readers know the result; he learned enough to prove to him that Monsieur de Tourville was the lover, not the brother, of the beautiful girl who bore the same name. On returning home that day, he sent off a messenger to Paris with a letter, and directions to bring back an answer; this done, he waited the arrival of Sergeant Perrin. CHAPTER XXX. After parting from Julian Arden by the chestnut tree, Lieutenant Thornton proceeded to the house, his mind fully occupied with the sudden and strange appearance of Julian, and the somewhat critical position which they were all in; liable every moment to be discovered and sent to a prison. It was vexatious, also, that Jean Plessis was absent, as he was thus left with the female part of the family, to stand the brunt of Sergeant François Perrin’s examination.