her ready to rejoin Le Chevalier, and persuaded that she would carry the remainder of this stolen money to her lover, they thought it well to stop her and the money, to which they believed they had a right—­Lemarchand as Allain’s friend and creditor, Placene in his capacity of cashier to the Chouans.  The lawyer Vannier, as liquidator of Le Chevalier’s debts, had offered to keep Mme. Acquet prisoner until they had succeeded in extorting the whole sum from her.

The life led by the unhappy woman at Vannier’s, where she was a prey to this trio of scoundrels, was a purgatory of humiliations and misery.  When the lawyer understood that not only did his prisoner not possess a single sou, but that she could not dispose of the Buquets’ treasure, he flew into a violent passion and plainly threatened to give her up to the police; he even reproached her “for what she eat,” swearing that somehow or other “he would make her pay board, for he certainly was not going to feed her free of cost.”  The unhappy woman, who had spent her last louis in paying for the seat in the Rouen diligence, which she had not occupied, wrote to Lefebre early in September, begging him to send her a little money.  He had received a large share of the plunder and might at least have shown himself generous; but he replied coolly that he could do nothing for her; and that she had better apply to Joseph Buquet.

This was exactly what they wished her to do.  Vannier himself brutally advised her to try going to Donnay, even at the risk of being arrested, in order to bring back some money from there; and Lemarchand, rather than lose sight of her, resolved to accompany her.

Mme. Acquet, worn out and reduced to a state of subjection, consented to everything that was demanded of her.  Dressed as a beggar, she took the road to Donnay where formerly she had ruled as sovereign mistress; she saw again the long avenues at the end of which the facade of the chateau, imposing still despite its decay, commanded a view of the three terraces of the park; she walked along by the walls to reach the Buquets’ cottage where Joseph, who was hiding in the neighbouring woods, occasionally returned to watch over his treasure.  She surprised him there on this particular day, and implored him to come to her assistance but the peasant was inflexible; she obtained, however, the sum of one hundred and fifty francs, which he counted out to her in twelve-sou pieces and copper money.  On the evening of her return to Caen Mme. Acquet faithfully made over the money to Vannier, reserving only fifteen francs for her trouble; moreover, she was obliged to submit to her host’s obscene allusions as to the means she had employed to extort this ridiculous sum from Buquet.  She bore everything unmoved; her indifference resembled stupefaction; she no longer appeared conscious of the horrors of her situation or the dangers to which she was exposed.  Her happiest days were spent in walks round the town with Chauvel with whom she arranged meetings and who used to come from Falaise to pass a few hours with her; they went to a neighbouring village, dined there, and returned to the town at dusk.