“Fortunately, even if a courier take the vicomte word that the baron and his daughter have made their adieus to His Majesty, the fellow cannot hear of it for two days, however fast the messenger may travel.  Of course, Tulle is nigh a hundred miles nearer Paris than Pointdexter, which lies between Florac and Sainte Afrique, both of which towns lie within the circle of the estate.  I admit that, foreseeing the baron is likely to return to his estates without delay, the vicomte may have made his preparations, and be ready to start as soon as he gets the news.  Nevertheless, he will have a ride of some eighty miles to strike the road on which we shall be travelling.  He may then move north, until he finds some suitable place for a surprise; but, even allowing for his exercising the greatest speed, we should be halfway from Paris before we can possibly meet him, and my men should join us by that time.”

“You have forgotten one contingency, which would entirely alter the state of things.”

“What is that?” Monsieur de la Vallee asked sharply.

“We give this villain noble credit for resource and enterprise.  What more likely than that he has left a couple of his retainers at Versailles, with orders that, should any messenger be sent off by a southern road from the baron, his journey is to be cut short, and any paper or letter found upon him carried with all speed to Tulle?  In that case, the chances of our being met by a reinforcement are very small.”

“Peste!  You are right, Desmond.  I never gave the matter a thought.  Now that you mention it, nothing is more probable.  It was the servant who accompanied me whom I sent off, but, as de Tulle would have been notified of my arrival, and the man started from the baron’s house, it would be deemed certain that he was either going to Pointdexter or my own estate, and that the message he carried was a somewhat urgent one.  Well, all we can do is to hope that the fellow has not thought of our taking such a precaution, and that my messenger will arrive unmolested.  Still, I acknowledge that the idea makes me anxious, and I fear that we shall not get through without serious trouble.  There are so many disbanded soldiers, and other knaves, in the forests that de Tulle would have no difficulty in hiring any number of them, and carrying his scheme out without the assistance or knowledge of his own tenants.  The heavy taxation necessary to keep up the expenses of the court has driven numbers of people to despair, and many hitherto law-abiding folk are being forced to leave their holdings, and to take to unlawful courses.

“However, it is of no use our telling the baron our fears.  He is obstinate, when he has once made up his mind to a thing, and nothing short of a royal command would induce him either to change his route, or to stop at one of the towns that we shall pass through, and wait until my band arrives.  He would, indeed, consider his honour greatly attainted by allowing himself to make a change of plans, on the mere chance that our suspicions were justified.”