Michu, counting on this instinct of the gendarmes, was able to reach the forest a few moments after the countess, whom Marthe had guided to the appointed place.
"Go home now," he said to Marthe.

"The forest is watched and it is dangerous to remain here.

We need all our freedom." Michu unfastened his horse and asked the countess to follow him.
"I shall not go a step further," said Laurence, "unless you give me some proof of the interest you seem to have in us--for, after all, you are Michu." "Mademoiselle," he answered, in a gentle voice; "the part I am playing can be explained to you in two words.

I am, unknown to the Marquis de Simeuse and his brother, the guardian of their property.

On this subject I received the last instructions of their late father and their dear mother, my protectress.