Stanley J. Weyman

“ He and the sergeant passed quickly, one on either side of Clon and his guards. The path grew narrow here, and the captain passed outside. The eyes of all but one were on the black blotch, the hollow in the cliff-side, and no one saw exactly what happened. But somehow, as the captain passed abreast of him, the prisoner thrust back his guards, and leaping sideways, flung his unbound arms round Larolle’s body, and in an instant swept him, shouting, to the verge of the precipice. ”

“ A single person, traversing the covert, might have made such a track; or pigs, or children. But it was the first idea that occurred to us, and put us all on the alert. The captain carried a cocked pistol, I held my sword drawn, and kept a watchful eye on him; and the deeper the dusk fell in the wood, the more cautiously we went, until at last we came out with a sort of jump into a wider and lighter path.
I looked up and down, and saw before me a wooden bridge, and an open meadow, lying cold and grey in the twilight ”

“ And the lieutenant grinned too. ‘You see the man has just confessed. We have only been giving him an extra touch or two, to impress his memory, and save us the trouble of tying him up again.’
‘I don’t believe it,’ I said bluntly—but I felt the check, and fell to earth. ‘The man cannot speak.’
‘No, but he has managed to tell us that he will guide us to the place we want,’ the captain answered drily. ‘The whip, if it cannot find a man a tongue, can find him wits. ”

“ But the lieutenant laid his hand on his lips and stopped him. ‘Hush!’ he said. Then more quietly, ‘Your pardon, M. le Capitaine. Shall I give orders to the men to fall in?’
The captain nodded sullenly.
The lieutenant turned to his prisoner.
‘Take him down!’ the lieutenant ordered, in his harsh, monotonous voice. ‘Throw his blouse over him, and tie his hands. And do you two, Paul and Lebrun, guard him. Michel, bring the whip, or he may forget how it tastes. Sergeant, choose four good men, and dismiss the rest to their quarters.’
‘Shall we need the horses?’ the sergeant asked. ”

“ Even in such a dim light as now displayed it to us, and by increasing the depth and unseen dangers of the gorge gave a kind of impressiveness to our movements, a nervous woman need not have feared to tread it, I wondered how often Mademoiselle had passed along it with her milk-pitcher.
‘I think that we have him now,’ Captain Larolle muttered, twisting his moustachios, and looking about to make his last dispositions. ‘Paul and Lebrun, see that your man makes no noise. Sergeant, come forward with your carbine, but do not fire without orders. Now, silence, all, and close up, Lieutenant. ”

“ How do I know what you have suffered?’
‘Or done!’ I said, almost rudely.
‘Where a man has not lied, nor betrayed, nor sold himself or others,’ she answered firmly, but in a low tone, ‘I think I can forgive all else. ”