To do Tignonville justice, he was not of these. On the contrary, he
seemed to be in a better temper on this day and, where so many took
things unheroically, he showed to advantage. Avoiding the Countess and
riding with Carlat, he talked and laughed with marked cheerfulness; nor
did he ever fail, when the mist rose, to note this or that landmark, and
confirm Badelon in the way he was going.
"We shall be at Lege by noon!" he cried more than once, "and if M. le
Comte persists in his plan, may reach Vrillac by late sunset. By way of
Challans!"
And always Carlat answered, "Ay, by Challans, Monsieur, so be it!"
He proved, too, so far right in his prediction that noon saw them drag, a
weary train, into the hamlet of Lege, where the road from Nantes to
Olonne runs southward over the level of Poitou. An hour later Count
Hannibal rode in with six of his eight men, and, after a few minutes'
parley with Badelon, who was scanning the horses, he called Carlat to
him. The old man came.
"Can we reach Vrillac to-night?" Count Hannibal asked curtly.
"By Challans, my lord," the steward answered, "I think we can. We call
it seven hours' riding from here."
"And that route is the shortest?"
"In time, M. le Comte, the road being better."
Count Hannibal bent his brows. "And the other way?" he said.
"Is by Commequiers, my lord. It is shorter in distance."
"By how much?"
"Two leagues. But there are fordings and a salt marsh; and with Madame
and the women--"
"It would be longer?"
The steward hesitated. "I think so," he said slowly, his eyes wandering
to the grey misty landscape, against which the poor hovels of the village
stood out naked and comfortless. A low thicket of oaks sheltered the
place from south-westerly gales. On the other three sides it lay open.
"Very good," Tavannes said curtly. "Be ready to start in ten minutes.
You will guide us."
But when the ten minutes had elapsed and the party were ready to start,
to the astonishment of all the steward was not to be found. To
peremptory calls for him no answer came; and a hurried search through the
hamlet proved equally fruitless. The only person who had seen him since
his interview with Tavannes turned out to be M. de Tignonville; and he
had seen him mount his horse five minutes before, and move off--as he
believed--by the Challans road.
"Ahead of us?"
"Yes, M. le Comte," Tignonville answered, shading his eyes and gazing in
the direction of the fringe of trees. "I did not see him take the road,
but he was beside the north end of the wood when I saw him last.
Thereabouts!" and he pointed to a place where the Challans road wound
round the flank of the wood. "When we are beyond that point, I think we
shall see him."