Maurice,
where Satan himself could not find her. And the girl might remain
there for seven years without ever being heard tell of by any white
person in the Colony.
Bigot and Cadet rode rapidly forward until they came to the dark
forest, where the faint outline of road, barely visible, would have
perplexed Bigot to have kept it alone in the night. But Cadet was
born in Charlebourg; he knew every path, glade, and dingle in the
forest of Beaumanoir, and rode on without drawing bridle.
Bigot, in his fiery eagerness, had hitherto ridden foremost. Cadet
now led the way, dashing under the boughs of the great trees that
overhung the road. The tramp of their horses woke the echoes of the
woods. But they were not long in reaching the park of Beaumanoir.
They saw before them the tall chimney-stacks and the high roofs and
the white walls of the Chateau, looking spectral enough in the wan
moonlight,--ghostly, silent, and ominous. One light only was
visible in the porter's lodge; all else was dark, cold, and
sepulchral.
The watchful old porter at the gate was instantly on foot to see who
came at that hour, and was surprised enough at sight of his master
and the Sieur Cadet, without retinue or even a groom to accompany
them.
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