“I have another commission for you, M. Bertuccio,” said he; “I am desirous of having an estate by the seaside in Normandy—for instance, between Le Havre and Boulogne. You see I give you a wide range. It will be absolutely necessary that the place you may select have a small harbor, creek, or bay, into which my corvette can enter and remain at anchor. She draws only fifteen feet. She must be kept in constant readiness to sail immediately I think proper to give the signal. Make the requisite inquiries for a place of this description, and when you have met with an eligible spot, visit it, and if it possess the advantages desired, purchase it at once in your own name. The corvette must now, I think, be on her way to Fécamp, must she not?”
“Certainly, your excellency; I saw her put to sea the same evening we quitted Marseilles.”
“And the yacht.”
“Was ordered to remain at Martigues.”
“ ’Tis well. I wish you to write from time to time to the captains in charge of the two vessels so as to keep them on the alert.”
“And the steamboat?”
“She is at Châlons?”
“Yes.”
“The same orders for her as for the two sailing vessels.”
“Very good.”
“When you have purchased the estate I desire, I want constant relays of horses at ten leagues apart along the northern and southern road.”
“Your excellency may depend upon me.”