Julia Pardoe

“ Day was breaking when the landlord awoke our hero, who accepted, with considerable satisfaction, a cup of excellent coffee prepared by the delicate hands of Marie. As he did so he instinctively cast a glance at those of M. Ebrard, and had no sooner ascertained that they were intact than he began to relate to him his nocturnal adventure, and to point to the blood upon the floor of the chamber, and to the ghastly parcel upon the chair. The honest landlord turned ashy white as he listened, and clung to the arm of Adolphe for support ”

“ Again two loud knocks echoed through the kitchen; and M. Ebrard, somewhat reluctantly, took up the lamp, traversed the wide passage which led to the outer door, and then, without attempting to open it, he demanded, in a harsh impatient voice, who was there?
“A traveller,” was the reply; “are you going to keep me in the rain for another hour?” ”

“ When Marie returned to the kitchen she found that her peasant-lover had availed himself of a sudden change in the weather to wend his way homeward, and that the two boys had retired to their bed in the grenier; but her father was not alone. A second traveller had taken up his rest at Le Grand Roi, and she examined him with a sudden and inexplicable feeling of curiosity. He was a man of between forty and fifty years of age, tall and powerful, with broad shoulders and ample chest ”

“ Even the wind has no power over it; all is as dark as the chimney-back. As to travelling in such a deluge, no one would be mad enough to attempt it; so, neighbour, it seems to me that we shall be wise to turn our feet to the warm ashes, and to make a night of it. Marie,” he pursued, addressing a young girl who was seated near him. ”

“ For a moment he shrank from touching the first “fleshing” of his maiden sword, but he rapidly overcame the weakness, and picking up the severed fingers, he carefully washed away the blood, and folded them up in his handkerchief.
“On the honour of a sous-lieutenant,” he murmured to himself, “that was a lucky stroke, and really, for a robber, the fingers are passably slender, and the nails tolerably clean. Well, I suppose that all is over for to-night; so, as I am shivering with cold, I had better go to my bed again.”
Adolphe was young and fearless ”

“ I am sick of women; when they are useless they worry out a man’s heart, and when you can turn them to some account, they die.”
M. Ebrard could not be branded as a sentimentalist.
“Come, come, Marie!” he shouted as she returned to the kitchen; “do you want to spend the night in the cellar? You must bestir yourself a little more, for I can’t afford to keep you to be looked at ”

“ He stated that it was impossible to prove that the prisoner at the bar had slept at the aubérge of Le Grand Roi on the night of the mysterious event which had led to the present trial, since the only witness now alive, who must have seen him had such been the case, had solemnly assured the court that she did not recognise him. “No, gentlemen of the jury,” he concluded, “the accused has been a victim, not an assassin. ”

“ Suddenly two distinct blows were heard on the house-door, given apparently with the handle of a riding-whip, and the men removed their pipes from their mouths and listened; the boys sprang up from the floor, and Marie started like a person suddenly awakened from a heavy sleep.
“Who on earth can this be!” exclaimed the landlord, “it can’t be a traveller, unless the diligence is behind its time ”

“ That he has been mutilated by violence is certain; but he has explained, in the clearest manner, the cause of this unfortunate coincidence; and the sword of the son is unstained by the father’s blood.”
“To prove which fact,” exclaimed a hollow and almost inarticulate voice from amidst the crowd in the body of the court, “there are the fingers which I cut off under the door of my room.” And as Adolphe ceased speaking, an officer of the court laid them upon the desk of the President. ”

“ My family reside in a country house at a short distance from the town, and by continuing my journey in the diligence I should have arrived in the middle of the night—an arrangement which I was particularly anxious to avoid: whereas, by taking the boat at six o’clock to-morrow morning, I shall reach home by dinner-time. ”

“ Mamma! Adolphe has got the two fingers he cut off at the inn; give them to poor papa, and then he will be quite well again.”
In another hour M. de Rosval was in the hands of justice. The landlord of Le Grand Roi had been so active in his exertions to redeem the honour of his house, that the gensdarmes had tracked the culprit by the traces of his blood ”