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Authors: Roberta Gellis
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getting it. “The château is the worst place to go. They will be waiting for us there. Jean-Paul and his men will run to the château as soon as we are discovered missing.”
“Possibly, but there’s just as much chance they’ll realize we must expect them to look there for us and, therefore, that we would go in the opposite direction. I don’t dare hope they won’t send someone to the château, but there’s a good chance that they’ll send only a few men, not surround the place in force so that we can’t get in.”
“And if they come after we are in? Will we not be trapped there, Papa?”
“If we can get in, they’ll never find us. The château was built over a much older place. There are tunnels behind the cellars—oh yes, you never knew of those either. Even I would never have allowed that until you were older. Those tunnels are dangerous. You can be lost in them and they are old. Sometimes something falls from the roofs. In this case, however, there’s less danger in using them than avoiding them. Jean-Paul could search forever and not discover those passages. The only danger is that if they knew we were hidden there, they could starve us out.”
At that, Leonie laughed mirthlessly. “They will have a long wait before that happens.”
Her father smiled at her and nodded. “We know how to starve now, do we not, my love?”
Chapter Four
Despite Pierre’s warnings, Roger found no danger at all in his first days in France. With Pierre’s help, he was able to purchase a rather worn-looking carriage. The horse that was hitched to it looked little better, but that was a deception of the eyes. Under unkempt mane and uncurried coat was a strong body, and the gelding had a real turn for speed as well. Also through Pierre, Roger changed more of his English currency for a few assignats and low-denomination French coins, so that he would not draw attention to himself.
Altogether Roger’s trip from Saint-Valéry to Saulieu was uneventful. Sometimes he was recognized as an Englishman by his accent. Althoughrelations between England and the “central government” in Paris were growing more and more strained, the people in the towns through which he passed did not care about that. They were happy to accept his francs and sous and gave him accommodations in the inns, which were emptier than usual owing to the unrest in the country. He did not stop at any of the large towns, although he could not avoid going through Amiens. From there, however, he was able to travel south and west by lanes and byways, asking his way to Dijon.
That method had drawbacks as well as advantages. Roger lost himself quite thoroughly in the mountains and traveled nearly as far as Vesoul on a miserable rainy day, without even a light spot in the sky to show the sun’s position, before he realized he was going in exactly the wrong direction. All in all, the two days this cost him did not turn out to be a total loss. When he deplored his mistake in going east instead of west, a fellow guest at the inn told him of a road a few kilometers south of Langres that would take him due west as far as Châtillon. There he took the chance of inquiring for Saulieu and found to his relief that he could get there without even entering Dijon.
Up until this time Roger had had no need to use the cover he had devised. The guns and gun parts he had brought with him rested quietly in the boxes in which they had been packed. No one had seemed interested or curious about why he was traveling. Those who recognized him specifically as an Englishman dismissed him as another of the lunatics who seemed to rush all over Europe with no aim beyond the actual traveling. Those who just realized he was a foreigner, without guessing from where, assumed he was intent on getting back to his native land before the war grew more intense and closed the borders. In Saulieu, however, Roger needed a reason to stay, at least until he could discover what had happened to de
“Possibly, but there’s just as much chance they’ll realize we must expect them to look there for us and, therefore, that we would go in the opposite direction. I don’t dare hope they won’t send someone to the château, but there’s a good chance that they’ll send only a few men, not surround the place in force so that we can’t get in.”
“And if they come after we are in? Will we not be trapped there, Papa?”
“If we can get in, they’ll never find us. The château was built over a much older place. There are tunnels behind the cellars—oh yes, you never knew of those either. Even I would never have allowed that until you were older. Those tunnels are dangerous. You can be lost in them and they are old. Sometimes something falls from the roofs. In this case, however, there’s less danger in using them than avoiding them. Jean-Paul could search forever and not discover those passages. The only danger is that if they knew we were hidden there, they could starve us out.”
At that, Leonie laughed mirthlessly. “They will have a long wait before that happens.”
Her father smiled at her and nodded. “We know how to starve now, do we not, my love?”
Chapter Four
Despite Pierre’s warnings, Roger found no danger at all in his first days in France. With Pierre’s help, he was able to purchase a rather worn-looking carriage. The horse that was hitched to it looked little better, but that was a deception of the eyes. Under unkempt mane and uncurried coat was a strong body, and the gelding had a real turn for speed as well. Also through Pierre, Roger changed more of his English currency for a few assignats and low-denomination French coins, so that he would not draw attention to himself.
Altogether Roger’s trip from Saint-Valéry to Saulieu was uneventful. Sometimes he was recognized as an Englishman by his accent. Althoughrelations between England and the “central government” in Paris were growing more and more strained, the people in the towns through which he passed did not care about that. They were happy to accept his francs and sous and gave him accommodations in the inns, which were emptier than usual owing to the unrest in the country. He did not stop at any of the large towns, although he could not avoid going through Amiens. From there, however, he was able to travel south and west by lanes and byways, asking his way to Dijon.
That method had drawbacks as well as advantages. Roger lost himself quite thoroughly in the mountains and traveled nearly as far as Vesoul on a miserable rainy day, without even a light spot in the sky to show the sun’s position, before he realized he was going in exactly the wrong direction. All in all, the two days this cost him did not turn out to be a total loss. When he deplored his mistake in going east instead of west, a fellow guest at the inn told him of a road a few kilometers south of Langres that would take him due west as far as Châtillon. There he took the chance of inquiring for Saulieu and found to his relief that he could get there without even entering Dijon.
Up until this time Roger had had no need to use the cover he had devised. The guns and gun parts he had brought with him rested quietly in the boxes in which they had been packed. No one had seemed interested or curious about why he was traveling. Those who recognized him specifically as an Englishman dismissed him as another of the lunatics who seemed to rush all over Europe with no aim beyond the actual traveling. Those who just realized he was a foreigner, without guessing from where, assumed he was intent on getting back to his native land before the war grew more intense and closed the borders. In Saulieu, however, Roger needed a reason to stay, at least until he could discover what had happened to de
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