reached the house, and which windows were open to attack; then I
turned and hastened back. Fortunately, I met no one between the
house and the village, and was able to enter my host's with an
air of the most complete innocence.

Short as had been my absence, however, I found things altered
there. Round the door lounged three strangers--stout, well-armed
fellows, whose bearing, as they loitered and chattered, suggested
a curious mixture of smugness and independence. Half a dozen
pack-horses stood tethered to the post in front of the house; and
the landlord's manner, from being rude and churlish only, had
grown perplexed and almost timid. One of the strangers, I soon
found, supplied him with wine; the others were travelling
merchants, who rode in the first one's company for the sake of
safety. All were substantial men from Tarbes--solid burgesses;
and I was not long in guessing that my host, fearing what might
leak out before them, and, particularly, that I might refer to
the previous night's disturbance, was on tenter-hooks while they
remained.

For a time this did not suggest anything to me. But when we had
all taken our seats for supper, there came an addition to the
party. The door opened, and the fellow whom I had seen the night
before with Madame de Cocheforet entered and took a stool by the
fire. I felt sure that he was one of the servants at the
Chateau; and in a flash his presence inspired me with the most
feasible plan for obtaining admission which I had yet hit upon.
I felt myself grow hot at the thought--it seemed so full of
promise, yet so doubtful--and, on the instant, without giving
myself time to think too much, I began to carry it into effect.