"I delivered the letter. He's to wait every night by the willow woods. He says this Humphrey Trail's his best friend. He's safe. He won't desert you." There was a kinder tone in Grigge's voice, for something in the eager way they listened to him touched him.
Cécile shut her eyes for a moment and then she said:
"They will come. I know they are safe. We had word that they were going to try to get through. That blessed cross-eyed Champar sent the message to us." Cécile turned and put her arms about Denise who had come close to her. "We'll see them, chérie, soon," she whispered. Denise could only sob on Cécile's shoulder. She at last was learning what it was to be in a revolution.
Hortense touched Grigge's arm. "There is some supper here for you, an omelette that I'm cooking. It's made with two of the eggs you brought us yesterday. Proté has taught me to cook it, and I want you to say it's good!" She spoke in a friendly way, and nothing could have showed plainer than her manner how they were all learning to know one another and to help. It was necessary that they keep occupied, and Hortense and Proté had many a laugh over the former's attempt at cooking. Bertran was the greatest problem, for he was determined to go out, and they trembled that he would in some way, in spite of his disguise, make trouble by causing suspicion. The days had gone by and they had not seen a living soul but themselves. Grigge had gone away every morning and stayed away all day, searching for Anastasius Grubb, whom at last he had found, and who had promised them his aid when the dear ones from Paris should come.
And the wayfarers--they who had come through the gates of Paris, through danger so great that it had seemed a simple thing to take one's chance at once and without question when it came one's way--where were they? They were thundering through the countryside, sometimes on the main highroad, but mostly through back lanes and untraveled pasture roads. The cart bumped about so much that their very heads whirled and they had to hold on just as hard as they could. They became so exhausted that they fell asleep in spite of themselves and their excitement. They ate what was given them by Champar and Dian, swallowing their food with dry lips and throats. Always there was the dread of meeting advancing outposts of the army. Once they had to hide, coach and all, for a day and part of a night in a copse in the woods.