Rafael Sabatini

“ Too late I saw the mistake that I had made. I own it was a blunder that no man of ordinary intelligence should have permitted himself to have committed. Remembering the unrest of the province, I should rather have concluded that their business was more like to be in that connection.
“He is bold, at least,” cried one of the troopers, with a burst of laughter. Then came the sergeant's voice, cold and formal—
“In the King's name, Monsieur de Lesperon, I arrest you.” ”

“ But in moving I had caught up by one of its legs the stool on which I had been sitting. As I raised it, I eluded the pinioning grip of the troopers. I twisted in their grasp, and brought the stool down upon the head of one of them with a force that drove him to his knees. Up went that three-legged stool again, to descend like a thunderbolt upon the head of another. That freed me. The sergeant was coming up behind, but another flourish of my improvised battle-axe sent the two remaining soldiers apart to look to their swords. ”

“ I clattered into the hamlet of Mirepoix, and drew up before an inn flaunting the sign of a peacock—as if in irony of its humbleness, for it was no better than a wayside tavern. Neither stable-boy nor ostler was here, and the unclean, overgrown urchin to whom I entrusted my horse could not say whether indeed Père Abdon the landlord would be able to find me a room to sleep in. ”

“ How, then, if I were to knock, should I prevail in persuading these people—whoever they might be—of my identity? Infinitely more had I the air of some fugitive rebel, and it was more than probable that I should be kept in durance to be handed over to my friends the dragoons, if later they came to ride that way. I was separated from those who knew me, and as things now stood—unless this were, indeed, Lavédan—it might be days before they found me again. ”

“ About the other table—there were but two within the room—stood the dragoons in a whispered consultation, of which it had been well had I taken heed, for it concerned me more closely than I could have dreamt.
“He answers the description,” said the sergeant, and though I heard the words I took no thought that it was of me they spoke.
“Pardieu,” swore one of his companions, “I'll wager it is our man.” ”

“ And then it came to me that this was no demoiselle of Lavédan, no demoiselle at all in fact, for the noblesse of France owned no such faces. Candour and purity were not to be looked for in the high-bred countenances of our great families; they were sometimes found in the faces of the children of their retainers. Yes; I had it now. This child was the daughter of some custodian of the demesne before me.
Suddenly, as she stood there in the moonlight, a song, sung at half-voice, floated down on the calm air. ”

“ The latter piece of information was vastly unnecessary, seeing that the water from my clothes was forming a pool about my feet. “I saw you from below; mademoiselle, and surely, I thought, so sweet a lady would have pity on an unfortunate.” ”