"I see what the trouble is, madame, and I don't know but you have good cause to feel anxious--" "Go on--go on." "Well, the fact is that you're afraid that M. Frederick may be caught poaching in the Pont Brillant woods. I feel in the same way, madame, and I honestly think we have reason to be alarmed, for the young marquis is bitter against poachers, and as jealous of his game as his deceased father used to be. His guards are always on the watch, and if they find M. Frederick poaching it will go hard with him." "Yes, yes, that is what I am afraid of," replied Madame Bastien, quickly. "You see we haven't a minute to lose. Jean François, I must get my son away at any cost." CHAPTER XV. When Marie Bastien and her guide left the farmhouse they found that the fog had lifted, and that the moon was shining brightly. A profound silence reigned. Jean François strode on for a moment or two in silence, then, moderating his pace, he turned and said: "Pardon, me, madame, I am going too fast, perhaps." "Too fast? Oh, no, my friend, you cannot go too fast. Go on, go on, I can keep up with you." Then, after they had walked a few minutes longer in silence, Marie asked: "When you saw my son, did he seem excited or agitated?" And as the farmer turned to reply, Madame Bastien exclaimed: "Don't lose a minute, talk as we walk." "I can hardly say, madame. I saw him come out of the forest, run across the road, and enter a thicket which he had probably selected as a hiding-place." "And you think you would know this thicket?" "Unquestionably, madame. It is only about ten rods from the sign-post on the main road to the château." "What a distance it is, Jean François! Shall we never get there?" "It will take a quarter of an hour longer." "A quarter of an hour!" murmured the young mother. "Alas! so many things may happen in a quarter of an hour." Madame Bastien and her guide hurried on, though more than once the young woman was obliged to press both hands upon her breast to still the violent throbbing of her heart. "What time do you think it is, Jean François?" she asked a few minutes afterward. "Judging from the moon, I think it must be about seven o'clock." "And when we reach the edge of the forest we are near the thicket, you say?" "Not more than a hundred yards at most, madame." "You had better enter one side of the thicket, Jean François, and I will enter the other, and we will both call Frederick at the top of our voices. If he does not answer us," continued the young woman with an involuntary shudder, "if he does not answer us, we shall be obliged to continue our search, for we must not fail to find him." "Certainly, madame, but if you will take my advice you will not call M. Frederick." "But why not?" "We might give warning to the gamekeepers who are probably on the watch, for a bright moonlight night like this seems to have been made expressly for poachers."