The funds now in their possession amount to twenty thousand francs; these the girl Godard puts into the carriage at night.
The notary Leveille had given exact instructions.The two women reach Alencon and stop at the house of a confederate, one Louis Chargegrain, in the Littray district.Despite all the precautions of the notary, who came there to meet the women, witnesses were at hand who saw the portmanteaux and bags containing the money taken from the carriole.
At the moment when Courceuil and Hiley, disguised as women, were consulting in the square at Alencon with the Sieur Pannier (treasurer of the rebels since 1794, and devoted to Rifoel) as to the best means of conveying to Rifoel the sum he asked for, the woman Lechantre became alarmed on hearing at the inn where she stopped of the suspicions and arrests already made.She fled during the night, taking her daughter with her through the byways and cross-roads to Saint-Savin, in order to take refuge, if necessary, in certain hiding-places prepared at the chateau de Saint-Savin.Courceuil, Boislaurier, and his relation Dubut, clandestinely changed two thousand francs in silver money for gold, and fled to Brittany and England.
On arriving at Saint-Savin, the women Lechantre and Bryond heard of the arrest of Bourget, that of the driver of the diligence, and that of the two refractories.
The magistrates and the gendarmerie struck such sure blows that it was thought advisable to place the woman Bryond beyond the reach of human justice; for she appears to have been an object of great devotion on the part of these criminals, who were captivated by her.She left Saint-Savin, and was hidden at first in Alencon, where her followers deliberated, and finally placed her in the cellar of Pannier's house.