Marshal Simon

“ You must rig yourself up something extra! Lord, how they will stare at us! I wager that in beholding your black moustache and my gray one, folks will say, behold father and son! But let us settle what we are to do with the day. You will write to the father of Marshal Simon, informing him the his grand-daughters have arrived, and that it is necessary that he should hasten his return to Paris; for he has charged himself with matters which are of great importance for them. ”

“ He was made Marshal of France on the 21st of February, 1676, not before he had fairly won that distinction. The remainder of his career showed his capacity in many ways, and acquired for him the esteem of all. His family were affected beyond measure at his loss. That house was in truth terrible to see. Never was man so tenderly or so universally regretted, or so worthy of being so. Besides my own grief, I had to sustain that of Madame de Saint-Simon, whom many times I thought I should lose. Nothing was comparable to the attachment she had for her father, or the tenderness he had for her ”

“ Simon laughed a loud ringing scornful laugh.
“Wilful will to water,” he said. “Well, thou besotted lad, if it be not too late when thou getst into the hands of Crookbacked Edmund and Red Gilbert, remember the way to Galilee, that is all!”
“I tell thee, Simon,” said Richard, turning round and fully facing him; “I would rather perish an innocent man by the hands of the Provost Marshal, than darken my soul with thy counsels of blood. O Simon! What thy purpose may be I know not ”

“ It would have been difficult to succeed worse, both with the one and the other. A brook, by no means of a miry kind, ran parallel to our army; and in front of it a spring, which formed a long and large quagmire, nearly separated the two lines of Marshal Tallard. It was a strange situation for a general to take up, who is master of a vast plain; and it became, as will be seen, a very sad one. At his extreme right was the large village of Blenheim, in which, by a blindness without example, he had placed twenty-six battalions of infantry, six regiments of dragoons, and a brigade of cavalry. ”

“ Let us see what is in the royal warrant,” and he drew the parchment from his pocket.
“What is it about, Simon, for I am no hand at the law.”
Thereupon Simon related the tale, as he had it from his master, I suppose, of how I had fought on the side of Duke Monmouth, and had been adjudged a traitor, but had escaped ere I could be sold to slavery. As Simon progressed I saw the Captain’s face grow grave and stern, for, it seemed, he was a great friend at court, and all his people had been against Monmouth. Therefore he had little liking for a rebel like myself, and one who was accused of treason. ”

“ It lies wholly in your power to kill me while I'm sitting here, and I haven't much hope but that you'll do it. But let me tell you this. A reign of bloodshed and crime can go on only so long. You've been kings up here, and you think the law can't reach you. But it will—believe me, it will."
"And this was the man who was going to begin the blood-feud—already hollering about the law," Simon said to his followers. He turned to Bruce. "It's plain that Dave isn't going to come. I'll have to be the chief witness myself, after all. However, Dave told me all that I needed to know. ”

“ In the midst of this, while I stood stunned and dumbfounded, my own risks and concerns forgotten, I felt my sleeve furiously plucked, and, looking round, found Simon at my elbow. The lad’s face was crimson, his eyes seemed, starting from his head.
‘Come,’ he muttered, seizing my arm. ‘Come!’ And without further ceremony or explanation he dragged me towards the door, while his face and manner evinced as much heat and impatience as if he had been himself the assassin. ‘Come, there is not a moment to be lost,’ he panted, continuing his exertions without the least intermission. ”

“ Simon, do us the favour to tie us up in sacks and throw us into the river that we may give up our thieving ways and become the owners of flocks.’
‘I am ready,’ answered Simon, ‘to do what you please; there’s nothing in the world I wouldn’t do for you.’
So he took three strong sacks and put a man in each of them, and fastened them up so tightly that they couldn’t get out, and then he threw them all into the river; and that was the end of the three rogues. But Mr. Simon returned home to his faithful Nina rich in flocks and gold, and lived for many a year in health and happiness. ”

“ Kukapa ne sieltä otti!
Ne ottaa Simo. Hän kiskasee kiireesti korvilleen suvilakkinsa reunukset, juoksee, katoaa liekkeihin. Kaikki katsovat liikkumatta, huokumatta.
Mutta kohta hän palaa, vetäen perässään palavia tikapuita. Tuskin saa tulesta tulleeksi näkyville, kun monissa miehin temmataan tikapuut hänen käsistään. Seilit saadaan päälle, ulkohuoneet ovat pelastetut.
— Herranen aika! Katsokaas, kun tuo mies on tulessa!
Simon vaatteet ne olivat syttyneet palamaan ja turhaan koetti hän itseään sammuttaa. Ihmiset tulivat luokse, kopistelivat Simoa, mutta tuli kiihtyi vain kurittamisesta. ”

“ In accordance with the orders he had received, Simon allowed his prisoner to go down into the garden every day, and sometimes took him with him when he went up on the roof of the Tower to breathe the air and smoke his pipe undisturbed. The boy followed him with hanging head, like a whipped dog; he never ventured to raise his eyes to his master’s face, knowing he should meet only hatred and abuse. ”

“ After growing rich with his accumulated booty, Simon was inclined to become respectable, a recourse which was always open to him—France, England, Spain, the United Provinces, vieing with each other to secure him by high rank and pay as an honoured member of their national marine. He appears however to have failed in his plan of retiring upon his laurels, having been stabbed in Paris by a man whom he had formerly robbed and ruined. ”

“ They turned instinctively to each other, as all turn to those who can recreate for them the young beginnings of their lives. On the marsh Simon always felt immeasurably old, weighted as with an actual burden by the years. He saw himself looking behind him at them as at monsters created in his pride, which now and for ever were out of his control. With Will beside him, they would lie in front as they used to do, rolling meadowlands still untouched by the plough of time. Because they had been young together it would be impossible for them to be really old. ”

“ Astonished at his firmness and moved by his childish affection, one of the guards asked the cobbler whether no one could help the little fellow; but Simon replied sharply:
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“The young wolf does not submit to the muzzle easily; he might know the law as well as you do, but he is always asking for the reasons of things—as if people were obliged to give him reasons! Now, Capet, keep still, or I will show the citizens how I beat you when you deserve it!”
The poor little prisoner turned to the deputies as if to appeal to their compassion, but they coldly turned their backs on him. ”

“ She ran to the house. Mrs. West followed her, talking. Simon saw how the terrible air of the men gave place to curiosity and amazement not the less physical. Simon felt repelled; he felt ill; he was distressed that Andrea should be witness to this sordid and hideous moment, that they should both in a measure be parties to the occasion. Was it the same world down which he had wandered only an hour ago in a gracious companionship, in a beauty that was like fine flowing substance? And Eva in secret communication with that thief! ”

“ So then, with unhallowed self-revenge, Simon rigidly detailed his crimes: he led the whole court step by step, as I have led the reader, through the length and breadth of that terrible night: of the facts he concealed nothing, and the crowded hall of judgment shuddered as one man, when he came to his awful disclosure, hitherto unsuspected, unimagined, of that second strangulation: as to feelings, he might as well have been a galvanized mummy, an automaton lay-figure enunciating all with bellows and clapper, for any sense he seemed to have of shame, or fear, or pity ”

“ For these Orwoods and he and Andrea had all been shamed by the crude literal child and by Mrs. West herself.
"God help me!" said Simon, and lay down on the tall, dry grass. Life pressed upon him like a weight, as if life were but a mode of death. ”

“ Simon shot an apprehensive apologetic glance at Colonel Sapt. The constable was frowning ferociously. In spite of the serious matters in hand I could not forbear a smile, while young Bernenstein broke into an audible laugh, which he tried to smother with his hand.
“Yes, the king was very tired, Simon?” said the queen, at once encouraging him and bringing him back to the point with a woman’s skill.
“Yes, madam, the king was very tired; and as we chanced to kill near the hunting-lodge—”
I do not know whether Simon noticed any change in the manner of his audience. ”

“ Let him hang us if he dare, and the disgrace be his that is coward enough so to make an end of his enemy.
“O sir,” said Simon, “but that is poor comfort to a man that has to leave a small family behind him.
“Simon! are you afraid to die?” cried the captive laird, in a tone of rebuke.
“No, your honour,” said Simon—“that is, I am no more afraid to die than other men are, or ought to be—but only ye’ll observe, sir, that I have no ambition—not, as I may say, to draw my last breath upon a wuddy, but to have it very unnaturally stopped. ”

“ When Simon saw this he could not forbear weeping and began to tell her a dismal story concerning the stocks; but she wanted her money for the eggs: But Simon being deaf, could not hear her, which made her fall on him with such fury, that at last he was obliged to run upstairs and jump out of the chamber window which when she saw, she followed him down the town with an hundred boys and girls after them, Simon still crying out to the people people, You may see what it is to be married. ”

“ So you've run away a day too late!"
She laughed at last, and then fell serious again.
"But what did Mr. Rattar mean by saying you had engaged the detective because you suspected Malcolm and me?"
"That's precisely what I want to find out," said Ned grimly. "He could guess easy enough who was employing Carrington, because I had suggested getting a detective, only Simon wouldn't rise to it. But as to saying I suspected you, he knew that was a lie, and I can only suspect he's getting a little tired of life!" ”

“ From the oak opening on the east slope a man came running. He was tall and white, and his unshaven face was strange above his neat clothes. He ran badly. His hands were flung grotesquely out, like the hands of one unused to running. When he saw the three, he veered and came toward them, tripping in the long grass.
"Hide me, for God's sake!" he said.
Andrea looked at Simon. Simon stood frowning. Eva abruptly turned and ran a little away from them down the path. It was strange to Simon that Eva should run away, she who seemed so doughty, so valiant. ”

“ The man riding on, Simon could not pace with him, so he desired him to leave it for him at the mill; he promised he would, but never intended to perform.--- Simon thus losing his sack of corn, knew not how to go home, and shew his face before his wife, until he got two or three of his neighbours to go with him, to beg for his pardon, and to help to make up the differences between them which they did after a long parly. So that for the crime he passed unpunished.
CHAP. IV.
Simon goes to the Market with his Basket of Eggs: breaks them all by the way, and is set in the stocks. ”

“ In his young days Simon had been one of the gayest and most active youths of the neighbourhood, but as he grew old and stiff he found it very difficult to walk, and his faithful servant urged him to get a horse so as to save his poor old bones. At last Simon gave way to the request and persuasive eloquence of his housekeeper, and betook himself one day to the market where he had seen a mule, which he thought would just suit him, and which he bought for seven gold pieces. ”

“ Pettle," she said quietly.
"Well," shouted Mr. Pettle, aggressively, "we got no time to lose."
"What's the man done?" asked Simon.
There was about Simon something so tranquil, so gentle, that the high key of the others was instantly lowered.
"Stole fifty dollars off'n me," said the man Pettle. "Took it out'n the till. I happen to be the sheriff; I 'll show 'im!"
"Fifty dollars!" Eva cried.
"You 're sure you 're after the right man?" Simon persisted.
"Said his wife was sick, the liar," cried Pettle, and jerked stupidly at his horse's bridle.
"Sick?" said Eva. Her face changed, lighted. ”

“ Scarcely had the sigh with which I uttered this desire died upon my lips, when Simon, with the aspect of a wild beast, glared at me savagely, and, rushing to the mantelpiece, where some foreign weapons hung on the wall, caught up a Malay creese, and brandished it furiously before him.
"No!" he cried in French, into which he always broke when excited. "No! you shall not have it! You are perfidious! You have consulted with that demon, and desire my treasure! But I will die first! Me! I am brave! You cannot make me fear!" ”

“ Simon bade Henry take shelter with him and have no fear of the storm. The king refused with petulant wit. "If I fear the thunder, I fear you, Sir Earl, more than all the thunder in the world." But Simon had probably small faith in the cumbrous system of government which the Barons devised, and it was with reluctance that he was brought to swear to the Provisions of Oxford which embodied it. With their home government he had little to do, for from the autumn of 1258 to that of 1259 he was chiefly busied in negotiation in France. ”