Such was the eternal subject of conversation between Mme. de Combray and her guest, varied by interminable parties of cards of tric-trac.  In their feverish idleness, isolated from the rest of the world, ignorant of new ideas and new manners, they shut themselves up with their illusions, which took on the colour of reality.  And while the exile studied the part of the coast where, followed by an army of volunteers with white plumes, he would go to receive his Majesty, the old Marquise put the last touches to the apartments long ago prepared for the reception of the King and his suite on their way to Paris.  And in order to perpetuate the remembrance of this visit, which would be the most glorious page in the history of Tournebut, she had caused the old part of the chateau, left unfinished by Marillac, to be restored and ornamented.

In July, 1805, after more than a year passed in this solitude, d’Ache judged that the moment to act had arrived.  The Emperor was going to take the field against a new coalition, and the campaign might be unfavourable to him.  It only needed a defeat to shake to its foundations the new Empire whose prestige a victorious army alone maintained.  It was important to profit by this chance should it arrive.  And in order to be within reach of the English cruiser d’Ache had to be near Cotentin; he had many devoted friends in this region and was sure of finding a safe retreat.  Mme. de Combray, taking advantage of the fair of Saint-Clair which was held every year in mid-July, near the Chateau of Donnay, could conduct her guest beyond Falaise without exciting suspicion.  They determined to start then, and about July 15, 1805, the Marquise left Tournebut with her son Bonnoeil, in a cabriolet that d’Ache drove, disguised as a postillion.

In this equipage, the man without any resource but his courage, and his royalist faith, whose dream was to change the course of the world’s events, started on his campaign; and one is obliged to think, in face of this heroic simplicity, of Cervantes’ hero, quitting his house one fine morning, and armed with an old shield and lance, encased in antiquated armour and animated by a sublime but foolish faith, going forth to succour the oppressed, and declare war on Giants.

CHAPTER IV

THE ADVENTURES OF D’ACHE

The demesne of Donnay, situated about three leagues from Falaise on the road to Harcourt, was one of the estates which Acquet de Ferolles had usurped, under pretext of saving them from the Public Treasury and of taking over the management of the property of his brother-in-law, Bonnoeil, who was an emigre.  Now, the latter had for some time returned to the enjoyment of his civil rights, but Acquet had not restored his possessions.  This terrible man, acting in the name of his wife, who was a claimant of the inheritance of the late M. de Combray, had instituted a series of lawsuits against his brother-in-law.