" And then to
one of his followers, as he dismounted, "Do you ride on," he said, "and
stand guard that we be not surprised. And do you, Perrot, tell Monsieur.
Perrot here, as God wills it," he added, with the faint smile which did
not escape the minister's eye, "married his wife from the great inn at La
Fleche, and he knows the place."
"None better," the man growled. He was a sullen, brooding knave, whose
eyes when he looked up surprised by their savage fire.
La Tribe shook his head. "I know it, too," he said. "'Tis strong as a
fortress, with a walled court, and all the windows look inwards. The
gates are closed an hour after sunset, no matter who is without. If you
think, M. de Tignonville, to take him there--"
"Patience, Monsieur, you have not heard me," Perrot interposed. "I know
it after another fashion. Do you remember a rill of water which runs
through the great yard and the stables?"
La Tribe nodded.
"Grated with iron at either end and no passage for so much as a dog? You
do? Well, Monsieur, I have hunted rats there, and where the water passes
under the wall is a culvert, a man's height in length. In it is a stone,
one of those which frame the grating at the entrance, which a strong man
can remove--and the man is in!"
"Ay, in! But where?" La Tribe asked, his eyebrows drawn together.
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