CHAPTER VI.
THE PASSAGE OF THE LOIRE.
M.de Lescure had been two days in St.Florent, when his wife and sister arrived there on horseback, attended by Chapeau.

None of the party had ever been in the town before, but it was not long before they were recognized, and the two ladies soon found themselves standing in the inn yard.

Madame de Lescure had as yet asked no question about her husband; indeed she had not had opportunity to do so, for she had been hurried through a dense throng of people, none of whom she knew, and when she was lifted from her horse by a strange hand, she had no idea that the window immediately above her head looked from the room in which her husband lay.

Chapeau, however, with considerate tact, did not lose a moment in finding the aubergiste, and learning from him enough to enable him to whisper a word of comfort to her.
"He is here, Madame," said he, standing close behind her, "in the room above there.

He is somewhat better than he has been, and as strong in his mind as ever.