Stanley J. Weyman

“ There is too much between us.’
‘Yet there must be one thing more between us,’ I answered firmly. ‘You must listen to me a little longer whether you will or no, Mademoiselle, for the love you bear to your brother. There is one course still open to me by which I may redeem my honour; it has been in my mind for some time back to take that course. To-day, I am thankful to say, I can take it cheerfully, if not without regret; with a steadfast heart, if no light one. ”

“ If he would seek out and deliver up another man, an outlaw with a price upon his head, he should himself go free.’
I paused and drew a deep breath. Then I continued, looking not at her, but into the distance: ‘Mademoiselle, it seems easy now to say what course he should have chosen. It seems hard now to find excuses for him. But there was one thing which I plead for him. The task he was asked to undertake was a dangerous one. He risked, he knew that he must risk, and the event proved him right, his life against the life of this unknown man. ”

“ And her figure shook as with cold.
‘It is a tale I desire to tell you, Mademoiselle,’ I answered, speaking with effort. ‘Perhaps I may seem to begin a long way off, but before I end, I promise to interest you. Two months ago there was living in Paris a man, perhaps a bad man, at any rate, by common report, a hard man.’
She turned on me suddenly, her eyes gleaming through her mask. ”

“ Those who know the great south road to Agen, and how the vineyards rise in terraces north of the town, one level of red earth above another, green in summer, but in late autumn bare and stony, may remember a particular place where the road two leagues from the town runs up a steep hill. At the top of the hill four roads meet; and there, plain to be seen against the sky, is a finger-post indicating which way leads to Bordeaux, and which to Montauban, and which to Perigueux. ”

“ We were within a hundred paces of the brow of the hill and the finger-post now. She cried out wildly that she did not understand. ‘What is it you have just said?’ she murmured. ‘I cannot hear.’ And she began to fumble with the ribbon of her mask.
‘Only this, Mademoiselle,’ I answered gently. ‘I give your brother back his word, his parole. From this moment he is free to go whither he pleases. You shall tell him so from me. Here, where we stand, four roads meet. That to the right goes to Montauban, where you have doubtless friends, and can lie hid for a time ”

“ That was prudence, M. de Cocheforêt,’ I replied. ‘I am an old gambler—I know when the stakes are too high for me. The man who caught a lion in his wolf-pit had no great catch.’
‘No, that is true,’ he answered smiling, ‘And yet—I find two men in your skin.’
‘I dare say that there are two in most men’s skins,’ I answered with a sigh. ‘But not always together. ”

“ The outlaw might be taken by another, might be killed, might die, might—. But there, Mademoiselle, we know what answer this person made. He took the baser course, and on his honour, on his parole, with money supplied to him, he went free,—free on the condition that he delivered up this other man.’
I paused again, but I did not dare to look at her; and after a moment of silence I resumed. ‘Some portion of the second half of the story you know, Mademoiselle; but not all. ”