No, for today we are safe--but
for today only. Messengers will be sent in all directions with
orders for our arrest. They will take fresh relays of horses; and
really our only hope is in disguise. I propose that we go the first
stage without halting as far as our horses will carry us. I think
we can get to Orleans. There we will put them up, and take rooms.
Then Margot must slip out in her own dress and buy two peasant
girls' attire, and I will pick up at some dealer in old clothes a
suit which will enable me to pass as a wounded soldier making his
way home. Then we will strike off from the main road and follow the
lanes and get on some other road. They will inquire all along the
road and will hear of a gentleman and two youths, and will for a
while have that in their minds. No one will particularly notice us,
and we shall get into Tours safely enough.
"We must never enter a house or town together, for they will be on
the lookout for three people, and neither a soldier with his head
bound up, nor two peasant girls, will attract attention. At Tours I
will get a farmer's dress, and will buy a horse and cart, and a
load of hay, and will pick you up outside the town. You can get on
the hay, and can cover yourselves over if you see any horsemen in
pursuit. After that it will be all easy work."
"Why could you not get the cart at Orleans, Rupert?" Adele asked.
"I might," he said; "but I think that the extra change would be
best, as they would then have no clue whatever to follow.
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