'No,' I said. 'Why do you ask?'
'Because,' he answered, with an ugly smile, 'this is not a very
healthy place for strangers.'
'Ah!' I retorted. 'But the border air suits me, you see,'
It was a lucky answer, for, taken with my talk the night before,
it puzzled him, by suggesting that I was on the losing side, and
had my reasons for lying near Spain. Before he had done
scratching his head over it, the clatter of hoofs broke the
sleepy quiet of the village street, and the lady I had seen the
night before rode quickly round the corner, and drew her horse on
to its haunches. Without looking at me, she called to the
innkeeper to come to her stirrup.
He went. The moment his back was turned, I slipped away, and in
a twinkling was hidden by a house. Two or three glum-looking
fellows stared at me as I passed down the street, but no one
moved; and in two minutes I was clear of the village, and in a
half-worn track which ran through the wood, and led--if my ideas
were right--to the Chateau. To discover the house and learn all
that was to be learned about its situation were my most pressing
needs; and these, even at the risk of a knife thrust, I was
determined to satisfy.
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