``What excuse, Monsieur?'' she asked.She was smiling, yet looking at us with shining eyes.
``The pleasure of having Mr.Ritchie get me out,'' he answered.``He has never failed me.''
``You are far from being out of this,'' I said.``If the Baron de Carondelet does not hang you or put you in the Morro, you will not have me to thank.It will be Madame la Vicomtesse d'Ivry-le-Tour.''
``Madame la Vicomtesse!'' exclaimed Nick, puzzled.
``May I present to you, Madame, Mr.Nicholas Temple?'' I asked.
Nick bowed, and she courtesied again.
``So Monsieur le Baron is really after us,'' said Nick.
He opened his eyes, slapped his knee, and laughed.``That may account for the Citizen Captain de St.Gre's absence,''
he said.``By the way, Davy, you haven't happened by any chance to meet him?
The Vicomtesse and I exchanged a look of understanding.
Relief was plain on her face.It was she who answered.
``We have met him--by chance, Monsieur.He has just left for Terre aux Boeufs.''
``Terre aux Boeufs! What the dev-- I beg your pardon, Madame la Vicomtesse, but you give me something of a surprise.Is there another conspiracy at Terre aux Boeufs, or--does somebody live there who has never before lent Auguste money?''
Madame la Vicomtesse laughed.Then she grew serious again.
``You did not know where he had gone?'' she said.
``I did not even know he had gone,'' said Nick.
``Citizen Lamarque and I were having a little game of piquet--for vegetables.Eh, citizen?''
Madame la Vicomtesse laughed again, and once more the shade of sadness came into her eyes.
``They are the same the world over,'' she said,--not to me, nor yet to any one there.And I knew that she was thinking of her own kind in France, who faced the guillotine without sense of danger.She turned to Nick.``You may be interested to know, Mr.Temple,'' she added, ``that Auguste is on his way to the English Turn to take ship for France.''
Nick regarded her for a moment, and then his face lighted up with that smile which won every one he met, which inevitably made them smile back at him.
``The news is certainly unexpected, Madame,'' he said.
``But then, after one has travelled much with Auguste it is difficult to take a great deal of interest in him.Am Ito be sent to France, too?'' he asked.
``Not if it can be helped,'' replied the Vicomtesse, seriously.``Mr.Ritchie will tell you, however, that you are in no small danger.Doubtless you know it.Monsieur le Baron de Carondelet considers that the intrigues of the French Revolutionists in Louisiana have already robbed him of several years of his life.He is not disposed to be lenient towards persons connected with that cause.''
``What have you been doing since you arrived here on this ridiculous mission?'' I demanded impatiently.
``My cousin is a narrow man, Madame la Vicomtesse,''
said Nick.``We enjoy ourselves in different ways.Ithought there might be some excitement in this matter, and I was sadly mistaken.''
``It is not over yet,'' said the Vicomtesse.
``And Davy,'' continued Nick, bowing to me, ``gets his pleasures and excitement by extracting me from my various entanglements.Well, there is not much to tell.
St.Gre and I were joined above Natchez by that little pig, Citizen Gignoux, and we shot past De Lemos in the night.Since then we have been permitted to sleep--no more--at various plantations.We have been waked up at barbarous hours in the morning and handed on, as it were.They were all fond of us, but likewise they were all afraid of the Baron.What day is to-day? Monday?
Then it was on Saturday that we lost Gignoux.''
``I have reason to think that he has already sold out to the Baron,'' I put in.
``Eh?''
``I saw him in communication with the police at the Governor's hotel last night,'' I answered.
Nick was silent for a moment.
``Well,'' he said, ``that may make some excitement.''
Then he laughed.``I wonder why Auguste didn't think of doing that,'' he said.``And now, what?''
``How did you get to this house?'' I said.
``We came down on Saturday night, after we had lost Gignoux above the city.''
``Do you know where you are?'' I asked.
``Not I,'' said Nick.``I have been playing piquet with Lamarque most of the time since I arrived.He is one of the pleasantest men I have met in Louisiana, although a little taciturn, as you perceive, and more than a little deaf.
I think he does not like Auguste.He seems to have known him in his youth.''
Madame la Vicomtesse looked at him with interest.
``You are at Les Iles, Nick,'' I said; ``you are on Monsieur de St.Gre's plantation, and within a quarter of a mile of his house.''
His face became grave all at once.He seized me by both shoulders, and looked into my face.
``You say that we are at Les Iles?'' he repeated slowly.
I nodded, seeing the deception which Auguste had evidently practised in order to get him here.Then Nick dropped his arms, went to the door, and stood for a long time with his back turned to us, looking out over the fields.When finally he spoke it was in the tone he used in anger.
``If I had him now, I think I would kill him,'' he said.
Auguste had deluded him in other things, had run away and deserted him in a strange land.But this matter of bringing him to Les Iles was past pardon.It was another face he turned to the Vicomtesse, a stronger face, a face ennobled by a just anger.
``Madame la Vicomtesse,'' he said, ``I have a vague notion that you are related to Monsieur de St.Gre.Igive you my word of honor as a gentleman that I had no thought of trespassing upon him in any way.''
``Mr.Temple, we were so sure of that--Mr.Ritchie and I--that we should not have sought for you here otherwise,'' she replied quickly.Then she glanced at me as though seeking my approval for her next move.It was characteristic of her that she did not now shirk a task imposed by her sense of duty.``We have little time, Mr.Temple, and much to say.Perhaps you will excuse us, Lamarque,'' she added graciously, in French.