"Come, Pompée," said the viscount to the old squire, who just then partly opened the door, and showed his head in the opening; "come, my friend, we must be off." "Oh!" exclaimed Pompée; "can it be that Monsieur le Vicomte thinks of starting now. There is going to be a frightful storm." "What's that you say, Pompée?" rejoined Richon. "There's not a cloud in the sky." "But we may lose our way in the dark." "That would be a difficult thing to do; you have simply to follow the high-road. Besides, it's a superb moonlight night." "Moonlight! moonlight!" muttered Pompée; "you understand, of course, that what I say is not on my own account, Monsieur Richon." "Of course not," said Richon; "an old soldier!" "When one has fought against the Spaniards, and been wounded at the battle of Corbie--" pursued Pompée, swelling up. "One doesn't know what fear is, eh? Oh, well, that is most fortunate, for Monsieur le Vicomte is by no means at ease, I warn you." "Oh!" exclaimed Pompée, turning pale, "are you afraid?" "Not with you, my good Pompée," said the viscount. "I know you, and I know that you would sacrifice your own life before anything should happen to me." "To be sure, to be sure," rejoined Pompée; "but if you are too much afraid, we might wait until to-morrow." "Impossible, my good Pompée. So take the gold and put it in your saddle-bags; I will join you in a moment." "It's a large sum to expose to the risks of a journey at night," said Pompée, lifting the bag. "There's no risk; at all events, Richon says so. Are the pistols in the holsters, the sword in the scabbard, and the musket slung on its hook?" "You forget," replied the old squire, drawing himself up, "that when a man has been a soldier all his life, he doesn't allow himself to be caught napping. Yes, Monsieur le Vicomte, everything is in its place." "The idea," observed Richon, "that any one could be afraid with such a companion! A pleasant journey to you, viscount!" "Thanks for the wish; but it's a long way," replied the viscount, with a residuum of distress which Pompée's martial bearing could not dissipate. "Nonsense!" said Richon; "every road has a beginning and an end. My respectful homage to Madame la Princesse; tell her that I am at her service and Monsieur de La Rochefoucauld's while I live, and do not forget the two words,--_Bordeaux, Yes._ I will go and join Monsieur de Canolles." "Look you, Richon," said the viscount, laying his hand upon his companion's arm as he put his foot on the first stair, "if this Canolles is such a gallant officer and honorable gentleman as you say, why should not you make some attempt to win him over to our side? He might overtake us at Chantilly, or even on the way thither; as I have some slight acquaintance with him, I would present him." Richon looked at the viscount with such a strange smile that he, reading upon the partisan's face what was passing through his mind, made haste to add,--