By her side he was a willing captive.

If she had asked him to make her his wife he would not have said no.
But Marie-Anne had not this ambition.

All her thoughts, all her wishes were for her father's success.
Maurice and Marie-Anne had become M.Lacheneur's most intrepid auxiliaries.

They were looking forward to such a magnificent reward.
Such feverish activity as Maurice displayed! All day long he hurried from hamlet to hamlet, and in the evening, as soon as dinner was over, he made his escape from the drawing-room, sprang into his boat, and hastened to the Reche.
M.d'Escorval could not fail to remark the long and frequent absences of his son.

He watched him, and soon became absolutely certain that Lacheneur had, to use the baron's own expression, seduced him.
Greatly alarmed, he decided to go and see his former friend, and fearing another repulse, he begged Abbe Midon to accompany him.
It was on the 4th of March, at about half-past four o'clock, that M.
d'Escorval and the cure started for the Reche.