and laughed. "Suppose he's there.... Suppose he recognizes me?" "You were disguised. All they could do would be to arrest the scarecrow in the tall hat!" "And suppose they've already laid an information against me? If they searched us they'd find the earrings." "Drop them in some bushes in the park when we get there. I'll tell the people of the château their fortunes; and thanks to me, the lady will recover her earrings. Our fortunes are made." "But if by any chance----" "Rubbish! It would amuse me to go and see what is going on at the château which is named Roborey. So I'm going." "Yes; but I'm afraid ... afraid for you as well." "Then stay away." He shrugged his shoulders. "We'll chance it!" he said, and cracked his whip. CHAPTER II DOROTHY'S CIRCUS The château, situated at no great distance from Domfront, in the most rugged district of the picturesque department of the Orne, only received the name of Roborey in the course of the eighteenth century. Earlier it took its name of the Château de Chagny from the village which was grouped round it. The village green is in fact only a prolongation of the court-yard of the château. When the iron gates are open the two form an esplanade, constructed over the ancient moat, from which one descends on the right and left by steep slopes. The inner court-yard, circular and enclosed by two battlemented walls which run to the buildings of the château, is adorned by a fine old fountain of dolphins and sirens and a sun-dial set up on a rockery in the worst taste. Dorothy's Circus passed through the village, preceded by its band, that is to say that Castor and Pollux did their best to wreck their lungs in the effort to extract the largest possible number of false notes from two trumpets. Saint-Quentin had arrayed himself in a black satin doublet and carried over his shoulder the trident which so awes wild beasts, and a placard
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