"
She gave a heavy sigh, and went on, "La Tournoire is a brave man,
of course?"
"He is a man," I said, "who expects to meet death as he meets life,
cheerfully, not hoping too much, not fearing anything."
"And this hiding-place of his," she said, in a very low voice, again
dropping her glance to the ground. "Tell me of it."
I gave her a description of the ruined Chateau of Maury.
"But," she said, "is not the place easily accessible to the troops of the
Governor?"
"The troops of the garrison at Clochonne have not yet found the way to
it," I replied. "The chateau was abandoned twenty years ago. Its master
is an adventurer in the new world, if he is not dead. Its very existence
has been forgotten, for the land pertaining to it is of no value. The
soldiers from Clochonne could find it only by scouring this almost
impenetrable wilderness."
"Is there, then, no road leading to it?" she asked.
"This road leads hither from Clochonne, and on southward across the
mountain. There are the remains of a by-road leading from here westward
to the chateau, and ending there. But this by-road, almost entirely
recovered by the forest, is known only to La Tournoire and his friends. A
better way for the Governor's soldiers to find La Tournoire's stronghold,
if they but knew, would be to take the road along the river from
Clochonne to Narjec, and to turn up the hill at the throne-shaped rock
half-way between those towns.
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