Stanley J. Weyman

“ Forced to stop and take breath when we had scrambled up fifty yards or so, I saw their lanthorns shining like moving glow-worms; and could even hear the clink of steel. For all I could tell, the hut might be down there, and we be moving from it. But it was too late to go back now—they were close to the fern-stack; and in despair I turned to the hill again. A dozen steps and I stumbled. I rose and plunged on again; again stumbled. Then I found that I was no longer ascending. I was treading level earth. ”

“ Why did we suffer him to stay in a suspected house bullying us, and taking your part from hour to hour?’
‘He has a sword, Monsieur,’ she answered with fine contempt.
‘Mille diables!’ he cried, snapping his fingers in a rage. ‘That for his sword! It was because he held the Cardinal’s commission, because he had equal authority with us; because we had no choice.’
‘And that being so, Monsieur, why are you now betraying him?’ she asked keenly.
He swore at that, feeling the stroke go home. ‘You must be mad!’ he said, glaring at her. ‘Mad, if you cannot see that the man is what I tell you he is. ”

“ If ever shame—’
‘Monsieur,’ she said abruptly—she did not look at me, ‘I am ashamed of myself.’
‘Why, his very name is not his own!’ the lieutenant rejoined jerkily. He is not Barthe at all. He is Berault, the gambler, the duellist, the bully—’
Again she interrupted him. ‘I know it,’ she said coldly. ‘I know it all. And if you have nothing more to tell me, go, Monsieur. Go!’ she continued, in a tone of infinite scorn. ‘Enough that you have earned my contempt as well as my abhorrence.’
He looked for a moment taken aback. Then, ‘Ay, but I have more,’ he cried, his voice stubbornly triumphant. ”

“ I looked at the lieutenant and could willingly have killed him. ‘Mon Dieu!’ I said, so furious in my turn that I could scarcely speak. ‘Do you say that I am an impostor—that I do not hold the Cardinal’s commission?’
‘I do say that,’ he answered coolly. ‘And shall abide by it.’
‘And that I belong to the rebel party?’
‘I do,’ he replied in the same tone. ‘In fact,’ with a grin, ‘I say that you are an honest man on the wrong side, M. de Berault. And you say that you are a scoundrel on the right. ”

“ I stood in the middle of the floor, gazing at the door, as at a ghost. Then, glad of action, glad of anything that might relieve the tension of my feelings, I strode to it and pulled it sharply open.
On the threshold, his flushed face lit up by the light behind me, stood one of the knaves whom I had brought with me to Auch. He had been running, and panted heavily, but he had kept his wits. He grasped my sleeve instantly. ‘Ah! Monsieur, the very man!’ he cried, tugging at me. ‘Quick! come this instant, and you may yet be first. They have the secret! ”

“ We seemed to be across the meadow and in the wood in a moment. There, instead of keeping along the common path, I boldly singled out—my senses seemed preternaturally keen—the smaller trail by which Clon had brought us, and ran unfalteringly, avoiding logs and pitfalls as by instinct, and following all its turns and twists, until we came to the back of the inn, and could hear the murmur of subdued voices in the village street, the sharp low word of command, and the clink of weapons; and could see over and between the houses the dull glare of lanthorns and torches. ”

“ Refuse, and I shall disarm and bind you, and you go as a prisoner.’
‘What force have you?’ he asked curtly. He still lay on his elbow, his cloak covering him, the little Marot in which he had been reading close to his hand. But his quick black eyes, which looked the keener for the pallor and thinness of his face, roved ceaselessly over me, probed the darkness behind me, took note of everything.
‘Enough to compel you, Monsieur,’ I replied sternly. ‘But that is not all. There are thirty dragoons coming up the hill to secure you, and they will make you no such offer. ”

“ The sergeant lowered his lanthorn. ‘Is it enough?’ I said hoarsely, glaring from face to face.
The lieutenant bowed stiffly. ‘For me?’ he said. ‘Quite, Monsieur. I beg your pardon again. I find that my first impressions were the correct ones. Sergeant, give the gentleman his paper.’ And turning his shoulder rudely, he tossed the commission to the sergeant, who gave it to me, grinning.
I knew that the clown would not fight, and he had his men round him ”

“ Be good enough to stay where you are for a moment, and I will meet them.’
I stepped out into the darkness, in the nick of time. The lieutenant, after posting his men round the hollow, had just slid down with a couple of sergeants to make the arrest. The place round the open door was pitch dark. He had not espied my knave, who had lodged himself in the deepest shadow of the hut ”