Montresor

“ Montresor had been brought up from his youth in the faction of the Duc d’Orleans, and, having more wit than courage, was so much the more dangerous an adviser in great affairs; men of this cast only suggest measures and leave them to be executed by others. Laigues, on the other hand, who was entirely governed by Montresor, had not much brains, but was all bravery and feared nothing; men of this character dare do anything they are set upon by those who confide in them. ”

“ Make use of the present opportunity for obtaining what may be serviceable to you in your employ at Rome, for the Court will deny you nothing.”
Montresor, hearing of it, said to me afterwards, with an oath, “He is a villain who says your Eminence can make your peace honourably without making terms for your friends; he who affirms the contrary does it for his own private ends.” ”

“ The lust of Montresor is to devour utterly the soul of Fortunato. It would be no use killing him outright. If a man is killed outright his soul remains integral, free to return into the bosom of some beloved, where it can enact itself. In walling-up his enemy in the vault, Montresor seeks to bring about the indescribable capitulation of the man's soul, so that he, the victor, can possess himself of the very being of the vanquished. ”

“ For Julie Le Breton was already conversing with the distinguished Frenchman wearing the rosette of the Legion of Honor in his button-hole, who had followed Dr. Meredith into the room. As Montresor spoke, however, she came forward, and in a French which was a joy to the ear, she presented M. du Bartas, a tall, well-built Norman with a fair mustache, first to the Duchess and then to Lord Lackington and Jacob.
"The director of the French Foreign Office," said Montresor, in an aside to the Duchess. "He hates us like poison. ”

“ Major Montresor had acquired the estate of Thurland Hall, Nottingham, in which he was succeeded by his son, James Gabriel, born 19th November 1702, who seems to have served in the army, because he was married at Gibraltar on 11th June 1735, and his eldest son, John, was born there on 6th April 1736. John was his Majesty’s Chief Engineer of America; the second son, James, was a Lieutenant, R.N., lost in the Aurora frigate; the third son, Henry Amand, was in the army, and died in 1773, aged twenty-seven, of wounds received at the siege of Trichinopoly ”

“ And his shrewd, small eyes travelled from Warkworth to the Duchess, his mind the while instinctively assuming some hidden relation between them.
Meanwhile, Montresor was elaborately informing himself as to Lady Henry.
"This is the first time for twenty years that I have not found her on a Wednesday evening," he said, with a sudden touch of feeling which became him. "At our age, the smallest break in the old habit--"
He sighed, and then quickly threw off his depression.
"Nonsense! Next week she will be scolding us all with double energy. Meanwhile, may we sit down, mademoiselle? Ten minutes? ”

“ It is a piece of acting that may do for the Théâtre Français, but is absurd to sensible men. Gentlemen, these two concocted this whole plan last night when together in their cell. I once knew old Montresor well, and this priest has not a feature in common with him."
The Count de Montresor turned from his son, and faced the court.
"Cazeneau," said he, with scornful emphasis, "now commandant of Louisbourg, once equerry to the Count de Laborde, you never knew me but at a distance, and as your superior. But Florian, here, remembers me, and can testify to my truth. ”

“ I know perfectly well when she has been at work. There are two or three men--high up, you understand--who frequent Lady Henry's evenings, and who are her very good friends.... Oh, I dare say she'll get what she wants," he added, with nonchalance.
"Between you and me, do you suspect any direct interest in the young man?"
Montresor shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know. Not necessarily. She loves to feel herself a power--all the more, I think, because of her anomalous position. It is very curious--at bottom very feminine and amusing--and quite harmless." ”

“ In 1758 Montresor was sent to Annapolis, Nova Scotia, to report on the defences, but when the campaign opened he rejoined the army for service in the lake country. In 1759 he accompanied the army of General Amherst, and as chief engineer distinguished himself by his fertility of resource and by the work he accomplished with insufficient means and materials collected in the emergency. In June he went to Lake George, put the fieldfort there in repair, and in concert with the general selected a site for a permanent fort. ”

“ The epitaph gives Montresor's age at his death as sixty-six; it should be seventy-three.
Montresor married, first, at Gibraltar, on 11 June 1735, Mary, daughter of Robert Haswell, esq. (she died 5 March 1761) ; secondly, on 25 Aug. 1766, Henrietta, daughter of Henry Fielding, esq.; and thirdly, Frances, daughter of H. Nicholls, esq., and relict of William Kemp, esq., of New Gardens, Teynham. By his first marriage he had several sons: John [q. v.] , who became chief engineer in America ”

“ You have not wounded him, Monsieur De Thou?"
"No, Monsieur l'Abbe; not every one has so good an aim as you," said Montresor, bitterly, limping from his fall. "We shall not have time to continue with the sword."
"As to continuing, I will not consent to it, gentlemen," said Fontrailles; "Monsieur de Cinq-Mars has behaved too nobly toward me. My pistol went off too soon, and his was at my very cheek—I feel the coldness of it now—but he had the generosity to withdraw it and fire in the air. I shall not forget it; and I am his in life and in death." ”

“ He planned the assassination of Cardinal Richelieu at the camp of Amiens in 1636, a plan which failed through the cowardice of Orleans. Montrésor was obliged to spend the next six years on his estate, but in 1642 he entered into the plot of Cinq Mars against Richelieu. On its failure he escaped to England, but his estates were confiscated. Returning after Richelieu’s death, he entered into the intrigues of the period just preceding the Fronde, and was imprisoned in the Bastille, then in Vincennes, having risked his safety by coming back from exile in Holland to aid the duchess of Chevreuse. ”

“ He had three military sons, namely, General Sir Henry Tucker, Montresor, K.C.B., G.C.H., Colonel of the 11th Foot, born 18th April 1767, died 10th March 1837; Lieut.-Colonel John Montresor, born at New York, 11th November 1768, died at Penang in 1805 ”

“ I do not think Aunt Russelthorpe would keep me a second."
"And you'll not need to ask her!" said the preacher quickly. "Come to me any time, lass; though ye'll find it a bit uncomfortable, I'm afear'd! Still, we'll do somehow."
He frowned, considering the possibilities of Giles' house, then turned to her with a smile. "Do you feel as if ye'd stepped backwards a year or so?"
"No!" said Margaret. "There is no such thing as 'going back,' in reality. Is that Laura making a sign to me? No! it is only the lace curtain moving. He is still asleep, then. Tell me why you came, Barnabas. ”

“ He was walking up and down again, but that question about the preacher's wife sobered him a little; and presently he sat down, playing with her locket in one hand and shading his face with the other.
"And yet I don't know," he said. "She may have known—God knows—no! I think it is the devil knows—what may happen when a woman is bound to such a saint. In any case it's not her fault."
"But she will suffer if he's hanged," said Mrs. Sauls; and George looked up.
"Yes; she will," he said. "That's not my affair. The fool always suffers with the knave, and the innocent with the guilty. ”

“ But it was not he, it was Barnabas Thorpe who had awakened it.
"Do you believe that the preacher hasn't injured me?" he cried, with a hot bitterness in his heart. "Oh, yes; he has won, all the way round."
He walked to his desk, unlocked it, and held out the diamonds. "You shall have what you ask," he said; "because you ask it; but never tell any one, Mrs. Thorpe, for I am ashamed of being such a fool."
Then, as she gave a little cry of joy, his fingers closed again on the locket.
"Margaret, Margaret! is his life worth a kiss?" he said. "You shall give me that for it. Ah, God! ”

“ Then, while Meg, who had been sitting with dilated eyes staring at him, covered her face with her hands, his voice melted into entreaty.
"Perhaps it is so," he said. "But the Master is full of pity. Still He says 'Come'. He knows our backslidings. He bears wi' us again and again, as a mother wi' a bairn who stumbles running to her. His feet bear the bruises o' the stones by the way," cried Barnabas. And again, as on the beach, his blue eyes had the expression of eyes that see that of which they speak. "An' ye shall not be afeard o' th' path they trod! ”

“ The preacher's countenance changed when he looked at her visitor.
"I've seen ye afore, sir," he said in a low voice. "It passes me how ye are not 'shamed to be i' this county again. If I'd been here, I'd not ha' let my wife sit at th' same table with ye."
His fingers clenched unconsciously, his face grew stern, his blue eyes very bright. Meg had seen him look like that only once before—when he had caught the idiot frightening her.
Mr. Sauls put up his eyeglass and stared deliberately, and a little insolently. He always grew outwardly cool when an adversary waxed hot. ”

“ He laughed at himself, even while he asked the question; it was a foolish one enough; but the preacher made no protestations.
"Do you believe I did?" said he. "Ay—I see you do half believe it. Then I've done ye a wrong; I thought ye didn't. There's been a deal between us, and, happen, not much to choose from, i' the way o' hating. It's the judge's business, as ye say. To his own master a man stands or falls. It's to Him I'll answer."
And George turned away. Barnabas was too proud to protest his innocence to his enemy. ”

“ Margaret lingered to shake hands with more than one friend of the preacher's when she left the heated court at the end of the first day of the trial.
"When my husband is free again, he will thank you himself," she said. And the men drew back to let her pass, with little murmurs of sympathy. Tom Thorpe was still on one side of her, and the prison doctor on the other.
"Ye'd better get out o' this as quick as ye can," Tom cried; but Meg, who usually shrank from contact with strangers, was in no hurry now. The shouts for Barnabas and the groans for Mr. Sauls made her blood tingle. ”

“ Sauls pick up her bundle! It was like him to take prompt advantage. While she sat in the dark, Meg clenched her hands with the wild desire to kill George Sauls. If Barnabas were hanged how could he be allowed to live? Then she crushed that mad anger down again; it was her fault. She had persuaded her husband to come to London. She had left him alone while she nursed her father, she—what had the doctor said? She had lost the last chance of saving him, but that had not been from want of love. In her soul she knew she had never loved him more than when she had told him he was right. ”

“ Sauls! You might have spared me that!"
"Oh, you needn't see him. Say that I like your company, which is quite true, and have dinner up here with me. I wrote a line to him before you came, when—well, when I thought there wasn't much time to lose. If one doesn't strike when the iron is hot, the chances are that one doesn't strike at all!"
"I don't see that, Charles."
"No? It doesn't apply to you," with a smile. "I meant only myself and Meg. Well, sis, I don't want my will to be a shock to you, for you and I have always been friends, haven't we?" ”

“ This time we play to win."
"We? Who's fool enough to be on your side?" asked the man.
"I am on His," said Barnabas. "He leads!" He made his way along the ward while he spoke, stumbling more than once, panting from sheer weakness; and the wardsman followed, grinning.
All the men were out in the yard. Two of them were fighting, the rest were applauding. The preacher walked through the ring, and put his hands on the combatants' shoulders.
"Ye'll do that no more," he said. "It is my Master's day, an' He is here among us; an' to Him shall be the power an' th' glory." ”

“ The doctor eyed him inquiringly. "What on earth shall you find to say to some one in a condemned cell?" he asked.
"That God's mercy is greater than man's. That we can kill, but He can make alive," said Barnabas. The doctor slid something into the gaoler's hand as the key turned. "Now, good luck to the sermon; but it mustn't be long," said he.
But the preacher, with a cry, held out his arms.
A woman! no terrified criminal driven to a so-called "repentance" by the approach of death—a woman, with love, not fear, in her eyes, turned quickly to him!
"Margaret! Margaret!" he cried. ”

“ George Sauls guessed where they were, and laughed rather sardonically to himself as he reflected that "the clue" was not far off.
Well! he gave the "case" as well as the diamonds. He had given Meg a good deal from first to last; and, though he wasn't aware of the fact, he was no loser, seeing that no man can give of his best and yet receive nothing.
Barnabas Thorpe looked immensely surprised when he found himself free. "Do ye mean to say that that's all?" he said. "That I may go where I like? Hasn't Mr. Sauls any more to say? But I know he has." ”

“ Sauls' cleverness could not make an innocent man guilty. Barnabas looked as if he weren't attending; I think he feels that what becomes of him personally is not his business; or else he was too worn out to listen. On Monday it will be over. I wish it were Monday!"
"Ay! it 'ull be over," said Tom; "but what if it's over the wrong way? The devil does win sometimes, lass, whatever Barnabas may say."
"It isn't possible," said Meg. Then the soft curves of her lips straightened. "If the devil wins," she said, "why, then—you may do what you like. ”