"God's thunder!" he cried, "I never saw such fog as this for a
reconnaissance! The Gars must have ordered the weather."
"What are you complaining of?" said Mademoiselle de Verneuil, grasping
his arm. "The fog will cover vengeance as well as perfidy.
Commandant," she added, in a low voice, "you must take measures at
once so that the Gars may not escape us."
"Is he at your house?" he asked, in a tone which showed his amazement.
"Not yet," she replied; "but give me a safe man and I will send him to
you when the marquis comes."
"That's a mistake," said Corentin; "a soldier will alarm him, but a
boy, and I can find one, will not."
"Commandant," said Mademoiselle de Verneuil, "thanks to this fog which
you are cursing, you can surround my house. Put soldiers everywhere.
Place a guard in the church to command the esplanade on which the
windows of my salon open. Post men on the Promenade; for though the
windows of my bedroom are twenty feet above the ground, despair does
sometimes give a man the power to jump even greater distances safely.
Listen to what I say. I shall probably send this gentleman out of the
door of my house; therefore see that only brave men are there to meet
him; for," she added, with a sigh, "no one denies him courage; he will
assuredly defend himself."
"Gudin!" called the commandant. "Listen, my lad," he continued in a
low voice when the young man joined him, "this devil of a girl is
betraying the Gars to us--I am sure I don't know why, but that's no
matter.
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