The children, too interested to speak, listened eagerly.
"Go on, dear Dudu," whispered Jeanne at last, softly.
"How were they to get away to safety?
That was the question," continued Dudu.

"They dared not stay long where they were; yet they dared not go.
Monsieur was far too feeble to stand much fatigue, and the two of them journeying together might attract notice.
"'If we could get to the sea,' said Mademoiselle Jeanne--Madame I should call her, but it never comes naturally--there we might find a ship to take us to England or Holland, and thence find our way to our dear ones again.' "But Monsieur shook his head.

'Impossible,' he said.

'I have not the strength for even the four leagues' walk to the sea, and finding a ship that would take us is a mere chance.

We have almost no money.