We proceeded thus until the slender
path we followed brought up into the great road that leads
through the forest to the kennels and the new canal.
Here I asked him if he would not return to the chase, as the day
was still young.
"Mon Dieu, no!" he answered passionately. "I have other work to
do. Hark ye, M. le Duc, do you still think that she is in
Brussels?"
"I swear that she was there three days ago, sire!"
"And you are not deceiving me? If it be so, God forgive you, for
I shall not!"
"It is no trick of mine, sire," I answered firmly.
"Trick?" he cried, with a flash of his eyes. "A trick, you say?
No, VENTRE DE SAINT GRIS! there is no man in France dare trick
me so!"
I did not contradict him, the rather as we were now close to the
kennels, and I was anxious to allay his excitement; that it might
not be detected by the keen eyes that lay in wait for us, and so
add to the gossip to which his early return must give rise. I
hoped that at that hour he might enter unperceived, by way of the
kennels and the little staircase; but in this I was disappointed,
the beauty of the day having tempted a number of ladies, and
others who had not hunted, to the terrace by the canal; whence,
walking up and down, their fans and petticoats fluttering in the
sunshine, and their laughter and chatter filling the air, they
were able to watch our approach at their leisure.
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