And the girl obeyed. The father kissed her tenderly, for the two loved each other very much.

"Do you mean to stay there forever, Fanfar?" was Gudel's next remark.

Fanfar was the person to whom Caillette had addressed her smiles. With a laugh he swung himself down, and hung by his wrists a moment.

"Good boy!" said Gudel. "You mean to keep yourself in practice, I see."

Robeccal, with his hands in his pockets, lounged into the kitchen, and stood watching the preparations for dinner. La Roulante sat as motionless as the Sphynx in the Desert. Gudel said to her, respectfully:

"Are you coming?"

The woman turned her eyes slowly upon him, and then, with a sniff of disdain, called for Robeccal, who heard the stentorian shout, but did not care to be disturbed in his contemplation of the spit on which the fowls were roasting.

CHAPTER XIII.

MISCHIEF.

While these people were repairing the fatigues of their journey, a door opened very softly at the end of the room. But Schwann heard it. This door had access to the stairs which led to the upper floor. He instantly hastened toward the person, who stood half concealed.

This man was about forty, small, and wearing a brown cloth coat, braided and trimmed with Astrachan. His vest was blue, as was a neckerchief. He wore straps and spurs--a costume, in fact, in the last mode of 1825--and yet, no human being looked less like a dandy. His feet were huge, his hands ugly and bony. His face expressed timidity and hypocrisy. He took off his hat as Schwann approached. The stranger's eyes were half closed, as if the light from the long windows pained them--in reality, he was examining each face at the table.

"You want breakfast, sir, I presume?" asked the innkeeper.

"Yes," said the other, "yes, yes," but he did not seem to have understood the question, although he took a seat at one of the tables.

"Give me some brandy!" he said. "I am expecting some one, and when he comes you will serve our breakfast up-stairs."

"Very good, sir!" And Schwann walked away. "He is the intendant of some great lord, I fancy," he said to himself.

Again the door opened, and two more customers appeared. One looked like a horse jockey, the other, though in citizen's dress, was without doubt an old soldier. His heavy gray moustache imparted a certain harshness to his expression, though his eyes were frank and honest.

"Where shall I serve your breakfast, gentlemen?" asked the innkeeper.

There was a little hesitation. The last arrivals noticed the man in the brown braided coat, and did not seem to like his appearance. It was plain that some mysterious tie existed among these travelers, however, for Iron Jaws, hearing the voices of the new-comers, looked up and exchanged a rapid glance with them.

"We will eat there," said one of the two men, pointing to a table at some distance from the man in brown, who smiled slightly as he saw the gesture. He himself had been in the meantime supplied with a decanter of brandy, and now took some newspapers from his pocket, one of which he began to read, holding it in such a way that he was concealed from the observation of every one in the room.

When Schwann brought in a delicious-looking omelette, the horse jockey said, in a loud voice:

"Is Remisemont far from here?"

"Remisemont! Ah! gentlemen, it is plain that you do not belong in these parts. It is not more than two leagues away."

"Then we can easily get there this afternoon?"

Schwann saw that he had made a blunder, and endeavored to retrieve it.

"We had better call it three leagues, and the road is a bad one, and you have to ford the river. There has been a great deal of rain, and two men were drowned there last year; and, by the way, they looked much like you."

"Many thanks!" And the old soldier laughed.

"They didn't know the road, you see----"

"But you can furnish us with a guide?"

"Yes, but not to-day."

"And why not?"

"Because I am alone in the house."

The mountebanks had by this time finished their meal. Gudel came toward the two men.

"If these gentlemen desire it," he said, politely, "I will take them on early to-morrow morning in my wagon."

"That is an excellent idea!" cried the innkeeper. "With Iron Jaws there is no danger."

The strange costume worn by Gudel, and the equally strange name by which Schwann called him, did not seem to amaze the two strangers. They consulted each other with a look, and then courteously accepted the offer.

"I give a little representation here to-night," Gudel continued, "and start at an early hour for Remisemont."

Nothing could have been more natural than this scene, nor that Gudel should have accepted the brandy and water offered him, and it would have been a very distrustful nature that would have suspected any secret understanding between Gudel and the two men with whom he was now drinking. Nevertheless, the man behind the newspaper, who had not lost a word of this dialogue, smiled until he showed every tooth in his head.

The giantess and Robeccal left the room together. After a few words together, Robeccal returned, and asked Gudel if he wanted him again, and when his employer said no, that he was at liberty, he once more left the room. The man behind the newspaper did the same, and the two met in the pa.s.sage.

"One word, if you please," said the man in the brown coat. "Answer me frankly, and you shall have twenty francs. Who is Iron Jaws?"

"A mountebank."

"He has another name?"

"Yes--Gudel."

"Do you know the two men with whom he is talking?"

"No."

"You hate him?"

"What is that to you?"

"A good deal, and to you, too, if you wish him any harm. You are a member of his troupe?"

"Not for long, you had better believe!"