"I am a quiet man," he replied with a faint smile, sitting down opposite me.
"You are the very ghost of silence itself," said I. "What do you wear on the soles of your boots?"
Again he smiled faintly, but he left my question unanswered. "So you managed to keep out of trouble at that place where I last saw you?" said he.
"If I did not keep out of it, at least I got out of it."
"You are a clever young man,--or a lucky one. I was a little disturbed in mind at leaving you as I did. But--business called me. I knew that if you could manage to keep a whole body for ten days or so, even if that amiable Count did see fit to cage you up, you would be set free in the end."
"Not at all. By those who would visit the Count; by those who have--But stay,--have you not just come from Lavardin?"
"No, indeed. I left that hospitable house more than a week ago. I set myself free."
"Oh, is that the case? I ask your pardon. When I saw you here, I naturally supposed your liberation was a result of what has just occurred. I haven't yet learned all particulars of the event."
"Then you don't know what has been going on at Lavardin recently?"
"Oh, indeed? Well, it will be known to all the world very soon. The Count, it seems, was suspected of some hand in the late intrigue with Spain--"
"Nothing. I always thought there might be something wrong with the Count's politics."
"Well, so they thought in Paris. And having made sure--"
"Oh, by the discovery of certain documents, no doubt," said Monsieur de Pepicot, with a notable unconsciousness. "It is the usual way, is it not?"
"Aha! I begin to see now. You overdo the innocence, my friend. I begin to guess what you were doing at Lavardin--"
"I begin to guess why you wanted to get into the chateau,--what you were wandering about the house with a lantern for,--why you took your leave so unexpectedly,--and how you knew that in ten days I should be set free."
"Nay, Monsieur, I cannot follow you in your perceptions. I know only that on Monday evening a party of the King's guard appeared before the Chateau de Lavardin--"
"Having been sent from Paris soon after you had arrived there with the documents you found in the chateau."
"Please do not interrupt with your baseless conjectures, Monsieur. As I said, the guards arrived at Lavardin just as, by great good fortune, the Count himself was returning from some journey or excursion he had been on. Thus they met him outside his walls: had it been otherwise they would doubtless have had infinite trouble, for, as we know, the chateau has been for some time fully prepared for a siege, even to being garrisoned by the company of Captain Ferragant."