Immediately afterwards, Chapeau left the room, and Henri followed him; and calling him into a chamber in the lower part of the house, began to interrogate him as to what he had whispered upstairs.

“I did not like to speak out before them all, M. Henri,” said Jacques, “for I did not know how the ladies might take it; but as sure as we’re standing here, the man I saw on horseback just now was M. Adolphe Denot.”

“Impossible, Chapeau, quite impossible.  How on earth could he have got the means to raise a troop of men in Brittany?  Besides, he never would have returned to the side he deserted.”

“It does not signify, M. Henri, whether it be likely or unlikely:  that man was Adolphe Denot; I’d wager my life on it, without the least hesitation.  Why, M. Henri, don’t I know him as well as I know yourself?”

“But you didn’t see his face?”

“I saw him rise in his saddle, and throw his arms up as he did so, and that was quite enough for me; the Mad Captain of La Petite Vendee is no other than M. Adolphe Denot.”

Henri Larochejaquelin was hardly convinced, and yet he knew that Chapeau would not express himself so confidently unless he had good grounds for doing so.  He was aware, also, that it was almost impossible for any one who had intimately known Denot to mistake his seat on horseback; and, therefore, though not quite convinced, he was much inclined to suspect that, in spite of improbabilities, his unfortunate friend was the mysterious leader of the Breton army.  He determined that he would, at any rate, seek out the man, whoever he might be; and that if he found that Adolphe Denot was really in Laval, he would welcome him back, with all a brother’s love, to the cause from which, for so Henri had always protested, nothing but insanity had separated him.

“At any rate, Chapeau, we must go and find the truth of all this.  Moreover, whoever this man be, it is necessary that I should know him:  so come along.”

They both sallied out into the street, which was quite dark, but which was still crowded with strangers of every description.  The wine-shops were all open, and densely filled with men who were rejoicing over the victory which had been gained that morning; and the Breton soldiers were boasting of what they had done, while the Vendeans talked equally loudly of what they would do when their Generals would once more lead them out against the blues.

From these little shops, and from the house-windows, an uncertain flicker of light was thrown into the street, by the aid of which Henri and Chapeau made their way to the market-place, in which there was a guard-house and small barrack, at present the position of the Vendean military head-quarters.  In this spot a kind of martial discipline was maintained.  Sentinels were regularly posted and exchanged; and some few junior officers remained on duty, ready for any exigence for which they might be required.