through his park like a wounded deer.

When Moreau arrived at the gamekeeper's lodge and asked for his horse,
the keeper's wife replied:--

"Monsieur le comte has just taken it."

"Monsieur le comte!" cried Moreau. "Whom do you mean?"

"Why, the Comte de Serizy, our master," she replied. "He is probably
at the chateau by this time," she added, anxious to be rid of the
steward, who, unable to understand the meaning of her words, turned
back towards the chateau.

But he presently turned again and came back to the lodge, intending to
question the woman more closely; for he began to see something serious
in this secret arrival, and the apparently strange method of his
master's return. But the wife of the gamekeeper, alarmed to find
herself caught in a vise between the count and his steward, had locked
herself into the house, resolved not to open to any but her husband.
Moreau, more and more uneasy, ran rapidly, in spite of his boots and
spurs, to the chateau, where he was told that the count was dressing.

"Seven persons invited to dinner!" cried Rosalie as soon as she saw
him.

Moreau then went through the offices to his own house. On his way he
met the poultry-girl, who was having an altercation with a handsome
young man.