his jacket and carried a sword-cane.  Mlle. de Montfiquet gave him a little book of “Pensees Chretiennes,” in which she had written her name; then, accompanied by her servant, she led him across the suburbs to Saint-Vigor-le-Grand.  She found Mme. de Vaubadon’s guide at the rendezvous before the church door; it was Foison, whom she recognised.  The passwords exchanged, d’Ache came forward, kissed Mlle. de Montfiquet’s hand, bade her adieu, and started with the gendarme.  The anxious old lady followed him several steps at a distance, and saw standing at the end of the wall of the old priory of Saint-Vigor, two men in citizen’s dress, who joined the travellers.  All four took the cross road that led by the farm of Caugy to Villiers-le-Sec.  They wished, by crossing the Seule at Reviers, to get to the coast at Luc-sur-Mer, seven leagues from Bayeux, where the embarkation was to take place.

* * * * *

When d’Ache and his companions left Bayeux, Luc-sur-Mer was in a state of excitement.  The next day, Sunday, lots were to be drawn for the National Guard, and the young people of the village, knowing that this fete was only “conscription in disguise,” had threatened to prevent the ceremony, to surround the Mairie and burn the registers and the recruiting papers.  What contributed to the general uneasiness was the fact that four men who were known to be gendarmes in disguise had been hovering about, chiefly on the beach; they had had the audacity to arrest two gunners, coast-guards in uniform and on duty, and demand their papers.  A serious brawl had ensued.  At night the same men “suddenly thrust a dark lantern in the face of every one they met.”

M. Boullee, the Mayor of Luc, lived at the hamlet of Notre-Dame-de-la-Delivrande, some distance from the town, and in much alarm at the disturbances watched with his servants through part of the night of the 7th-8th.  At one o’clock in the morning, while he was with them in a room on the ground floor, a shot was heard outside and a ball struck the window frame.  They rushed to the door, and in the darkness saw a man running away; the cartouche was still burning in the courtyard.  M. Boullee immediately sent to the coast-guards to inform them of the fact, and to ask for a reinforcement of two men who did not arrive till near four o’clock.  Having passed the night patrolling at some distance from La Delivrande, they had not heard the shot that had alarmed the mayor, but towards half-past three had heard firing and a loud “Help, help!” in the direction of the junction of the road from Bayeux with that leading to the sea.