This page has been validated.
THE SUITORS
83
She tapped at one of the windows. Some one came to the door. It was Guillaume de la Vaudraye.
"You, madame!" he exclaimed.
"Where's your mother? Where's your mother?" she panted.
"My mother is at Caen, on business; I am alone in the house."
She walked to the drawing-room unsteadily and sank into a chair.
"What is the matter? Why are you here?"
She whispered, in a broken voice:
"They came. ... They are following me. ... I am frightened of them. ..."
"Simare, was it? ... And Le Hourteulx, I suppose ... and Beaufrelant. ..."
"Yes ... so I daren't go back. ..."
"But Adèle ... and her husband?"
"Gone to the fair."
He thought for a moment and said:
"I will go and fetch them. It's some way
