Pierre G. T. Pemberton

“ When they had done their work, the tallest of the three, who was dressed in black and silver and wore a mask upon his face, came up to the door of the coach and opened it. At the same time he doffed his cap and bowed with the dignity of a courtier.
“Mademoiselle,” said he, addressing Corinne, “a thousand pardons for the liberty we have taken. Be assured that I know your name well and that it is held in great reverence here. But I have laid a wager of a thousand crowns that you shall sup with me to-night at the house of the Silver Birch, and that I shall kiss you on both cheeks afterwards. ”

“ A man who had attained the allotted span, I said to myself; a man with a white beard so long that it covered his vest as he sat; a man of rugged force, of face slightly Greek in mould, yet feminine in the kindness of the eye. A silent man, too, answering Bianca's chatter with monosyllables; a man upon whom the cares of life pressed heavily so that he ate with no appetite, but when he had tasted of the dishes set lovingly before him, came upon his balcony to drink a glass of red wine and to smoke the cursed cheroot which Austria still sends to Venice. ”

“ Then he unwound a long coil of thin rope, and attaching the lantern to this, he lowered it into the orifice. Coq le Roi, looking over his shoulder timidly, watched him as one watches a conjuror at his tricks.
“Monsieur,” cried he, “you cannot hide me in the well.”
The unknown laughed scornfully.
“St. Denis,” exclaimed he, “that a man should live five years in a house and yet know nothing of its resources! Do you follow the path of that light, my friend? Well, tell me what you see.”
“The light shows me walls green with slime and fungus,” said the robber. ”

“ We spend the afternoon doing clerks' work, and to-night finds me on my road to Paris. You will stand in my place when I am gone. I ask nothing of you but to protect the lives of the men I am leaving behind me—and that's a thing your own English law would not forbid you to do. These men have a duty to do toward me, and I believe they will do it. If there's a man that does not, name him to me, and, so help me Heaven, I'll burn him alive when I come back. ”

“ The rats fled at its light; stones fell with resounding splashes while they ran; cold air oozed up and seemed to freeze the robber's face.
“Mon Dieu!” said he, “you have discovered something, monsieur; there is a little tunnel running into the well, and the water does not cover its mouth.”
“You have said well,” answered the unknown; “through that tunnel we shall pass to our friends. After you, Monsieur Cabot. The rope which holds the bucket will bear the weight of three men. Trust your life to it rather than to your friends without. I wait for you.”
Coq le Roi shuddered. ”

“ Once they had cried out, not a man spoke. Silently, with faces flushed, their heads bent forward, they watched the meeting as the two came together at last, face to face, almost heart to heart.
"My God! it cannot be; he does not mean it. It's a play—he does not want his life."
I could not keep the words back as the two men met, and stood for one awful minute on the line together. The general's face was still a beautiful thing to see; the count continued to bend forward, holding his pistol at his side. ”

“ The dragoon began to dress himself quickly, remembering only that he had orders to leave Paris at eight o'clock that night.
“Sang-bleu!” muttered he to himself, “I must have supped in some cabaret—and drunk too much Armagnac. What a thing to dream—that my brother poisoned me! Pah! it was a fool's sleep, and I am paid for my folly. And yet I could swear that I talked with Corinne at her house yesterday, and that she promised to make me Count of Brives in twenty hours. Dame! I am like to wait long for that!” ”

“ I knew well what the chap was after, and I said to myself, "Nicky, my boy, here's another bit of white paper which the wind has sent us." Yet how they had scented us out, or whose writ it was, I couldn't think. At the same time, it wasn't for me to be putting thoughts into the constable's head, and I kept my wits about me.
"It seems to me that the village should think itself lucky to have such a man as you about, Mr. Reubens," said I, after a bit. "There's no knowing what these London chaps aren't up to nowadays. ”

“ The magical neck was absorbed in the chest again, and he went on—
"I needn't tell you who I am; but there's my card. We have six men in the street outside, and another half dozen watching the leads here. You will be sensible enough to follow my instructions absolutely. Black, we know, leaves the country to-night in his steamer—yesterday at Ramsgate; to-day we do not know where. The probability is that he will come to fetch you at seven o'clock—I have frightened it all out of the people down-stairs if he does, you will go with him. ”

“ What the devil now, my nephew? We are caught like rats in a trap!"
He looked very serious, to be sure, while mademoiselle had turned as white as a sheet. Presently it seemed to dawn upon her that we were wearing Russian uniforms, and at that she got an idea.
"Go there!" she cried, indicating the low seats by the stove. "I will deal with them. You must pretend to sleep. It is your only chance."
We obeyed her instantly. Léon upon the left hand of the stove, and myself upon the right, we smothered our heads in the capes and curled ourselves up as men heavy with fatigue. ”

“ He had a white rose in his button-hole, and his manner was as smooth as Vacuum B from a nice clean can. He had just breakfasted off his usual brandy-and-soda and dry toast when I came in; and the big cigar did sentry-go across his mouth all the time he talked to me.
"Come in, come in, Britten," he cried pompously, when I appeared. "You like your place, I hope—you don't find the work too hard?"
"That's so—sir—a very nice sort of place this for a delicate young man like myself." ”

“ I know that a country tradesman will gossip like a fishwife; and I asked the man for some preparation which he could not possibly find in the pharmacopœia, and so began to feel my ground.
"You're well ahead of the times here," said I, looking at his show-case, which was wofully destitute of drugs. "I shouldn't have thought that you'd be asked for tabloids in a place like Reading."
"Oh, but we are," said he, readily; "it's a wonderfully advanced town is Reading—you won't get much in Regent Street which is not here. I've lived in Reading all my life—and seen changes, sir, indeed I have!" ”

“ Coq le Roi permitted the bitter wind to blow upon his face for some minutes, then he drew back his head, for he remembered his intention to drink a cup of wine at the nearest cabaret, and he found the idea a very good one.
”Bah!” said he to himself, as he tugged at his long boots and looked to his pistols, which lay, ready for priming, upon the table by his ragged bed, a what have I to do with woman's tattle here? Guards in the Rue St. Sauveur! what a day that would be! ”

“ The old servant, who had thrown the reins to the lad Germain, looked up quickly at this remark, his toothless mouth opening in a horrid smile.
“Who knows, monsieur?” he said; “there was never one of your race that refused a flask of Armagnac yet. And there is none better in France than the wine in my master's cellars. I pray you follow me lest the supper be already cold.”
With this, he took up his lantern and mounted a steep, tortuous narrow staircase, above which the great black walls of the château loomed forbiddingly. ”

“ Drat ye, go out and smoke your pipe, and leave me to get the childer to bed.' Ay, wunnerful woman she is with childer! Ye'll not be having a lucifer about you, Mr. Bigg?"
"Oh, but I have, though. You'll take a glass of ale with me, Mr. Reubens?"
"Well, now, you do put things into a man's head!"
I took him up to the Duke of York, and we went into the private bar at his wish.
"There's some as say," he explained, "that a constable shouldn't go for to be seen drinking in a public; but that's not my word. A man's a man, and no' the worse for taking a glass of yale like other folk. ”

“ Not a whisper of it, as I live, except to this friar, whom I could crush between my fingers as a glass ball out of Murano."
His colleague shook his head.
"There have been many," said he, "who have tried to crush Frà Giovanni. They grin between the bars of dungeons, my friend—at least, those who have heads left to grin with. Be warned of me, and make an ally of the man who has made an ally of Venice. The Captain knows well what he is doing. If he has gone to the priest's house now, it is that the priest may win rewards for us again, as he has won them already a hundred times." ”

“ There's nothing to be done now but to lie as low as moles. The odds are that they'll search the railway stations and the big hotels; but they'll hardly come to a shop like this."
"That's true," said he; "and yet to think that we wanted only five days of winning! Oh, if King would only come back!"
It was all very well for him to say, "Oh, if King would only come back!" and, for the matter of that, I could almost have prayed for the same thing. King alone could save us. If he turned up, we could pay Lobmeyr or return him his diamond. ”

“ He's a big man, is the general; but he hasn't quite got the girth of that tree."
"The devil take him, no," said he; "but he will die, nevertheless"—and with this he turned on his heel and went swaggering off to the great house like the dirty swashbuckler he was,
"Go on, my man," said I; "but if it isn't your corpse I put in the carriage to-morrow morning, write me down a tenderfoot. He'll shoot you like a dog, and you deserve it too."
I must say that I could see no other end to it. The general was a notorious pistol-shot; this man did not appear able to hit a cow at ten yards. ”

“ When he had placed the lamp upon the table, Maître Chalot made haste to apologize for his shortcomings and to set supper.
“I have nothing but bread and wine to offer, monsieur,” said he, hobbling about upon his crutches with surprising agility; “but such as I have, I give with all my heart. It was different when my wife was alive—but she died ten years ago. And there is no woman’s hand in this house now. God be merciful to me, I am quite alone!”
“One moment,” said I, feeling myself moved to pity at his obvious distress. “I met a young girl on the river’s bank half a mile from here. ”

“ He was lively enough then, and all his depression and melancholy seemed troubles of a year rather than that of twenty-four hours ago.
"Bedad," said he, as I mixed him a whiskey and soda and gave him his smoking-coat, "'tis the best little woman in London, she is, and the merriest. I haven't stopped laughing since I left the house; yet what I laughed at, God only knows. That's the way of a witty woman. Her laugh is like the song of a bird in spring. You don't ask why the bird sings, but you tune yourself up to the chorus. I'll forget that I was ever in Ireland if I am with her long." ”

“ I thought he was with you."
"He is on the floor, and dead by this," gasped the other, as the whip-like water cut his face, and he clung, with hands benumbed and shivering limbs, to the rail of the poop; "but it's every man for himself now! What an end! what an end!"
He said this, hoping to hold back Fisher, who had turned at to his companion again, for it came to him that he would be better wanting the American's company. But the lad had not heard the words, and was at the ladder while the man yet spoke them. ”

“ A great man, with as many medals on his coat as I have buttons,"
"He wouldn't be young, sir?" I suggested.
"He would be fifty-five, I'm told, and young at that. It was her father's wish on his death-bed that she should have him; but she leads him the devil's own dance, from all I hear. Truth, she's a very sweet little woman—and then there's the money."
"Is the wedding soon, sir?" I asked.
"It's for to-day week, but we'll have a gay time between. ”

“ The night around us was very dark, and the huge, heaving swell shone black as pitch in mountains and cavities below the gallery. We two were alone there upon the ocean, finishing that terrible duel—if, indeed, the end had not come, as I thought from the silence of the other.
"Skipper, are you going aboard her now?" asked the man "Roaring John," who came to us on the bridge. "She's done by her looks, and you'll get no oil if ye delay. Karl there, he ain't as comfortable as if he were in his bed." ”

“ Bedad! it's pleasant company altogether, though a man would do well not to finger the cards with them."
"You're right there, sir," said I, "though I don't doubt there will be cards in Brittany."
"Not at all," said he; "she'll have nothing to do with them. Her brother, the Comte de Faugère, told me so yesterday. They say that he's going for the Church, though I have my doubts. Ye must remember that she herself is the widow of an artist, and fond of gay folk. I make sure she'll amuse us finely." ”

“ As the thing went, I don't believe a man of the party moved for more than a minute after that dreadful deed. We were rooted to the ground, held stiff as much with shame as with sorrow. Even the count made no attempt to leave the clearing; he simply stood there with a sneer on his livid face and the smoking pistol swinging in his hand. If Sir Nicolas—who was the first to throw off the spell—had not pulled him away into the wood, he would have held his ground until one of the others had shot him where he stood ”

“ Why, we're on the road to be straightened out, every one of us. Look at it any way you like, you can't bluff it, for the hand ain't good enough. And I've had the notion ringing in my head ever since last night, when I dreamed we were took."
"Look here!" said Messenger angrily, "Don't let us have that woman's nonsense again. I can't see that the danger's insurmountable. It's great, of course; but we'll have to go into Corunna under a false name for coal, and then to risk it through the Doldrums. I should call the chance an even one."
Kenner had more words to say ”