"Wait a moment," said Nauteuil, hastily: "the adjutant, Weber, has taken it into his head to sup with our old fool of a lieutenant. They are in the room you will have to cross. We must contrive to get rid of them. Karl, go back to your post, for your absence may be perceived. I will come for you when it is time. Madame will go to my quarters and Gottlieb will accompany me. I will say he is a somnambulist, and my two scamps will follow him. When the room is empty, I will lock the door, and take care they do not come back again."
Gottlieb, who was not aware that he was a somnambulist, stared wildly. Karl, however, bade him obey, and he submitted blindly. Consuelo had an insurmountable objection to entering Mayer's room. But Karl said, in a low tone--"Why fear that man? He has too large a bribe to betray you. His advice is good. I will return to the bastion. Too much haste would destroy us!"
"Too much _sang-froid_ and coolness might also do so," thought Consuelo. But she yielded to Karl's advice. She carried a weapon about her. As she crossed the kitchen of the Swartzes she had taken possession of a carving-knife, the hilt of which gave her not a little confidence. She had given Karl her money and papers, keeping on her person nothing but her crucifix, which she looked on almost as an amulet.
For greater security, Mayer shut her up in his room and left with Gottlieb. After ten minutes, which to Consuelo appeared an age, Nauteuil came for her, and she observed with terror, that he closed the door and put the key in his pocket.
"Signora," said he, in Italian, "you have yet a half hour to wait. The jackanapes are drunk, and will not quit the table until the clock strikes one. Then the keeper, who has charge of the room, will put them out of doors."
"Your friend, Gottlieb, is in safety behind a bundle of fagots, where he can sleep soundly. He will not leave it until he is able to follow you."
"Unless I wish to have him hung," said the adjutant, with a diabolical expression, as Consuelo thought. "I do not wish to leave him behind us. Are you satisfied, signora?"
"I cannot prove my gratitude now, sir," said Consuelo, with a coldness, in which he sought in vain to conceal disdain; "but I hope ere long to discharge all my obligations to you honorably."