登陆注册
5440900000023

第23章 CHAPTER VII(1)

LA BOULAYE DISCHARGES A DEBT

Along the northern side of the Chateau ran a terrace bordered by a red sandstone balustrade, and below this the Italian garden, so called perhaps in consequence of the oddly clipped box-trees, its only feature that suggested Italy. At the far end of this garden there was a strip of even turf that might have been designed for a fencing ground, and which Caron knew of old. Thither he led Captain Juste, and there in the pale sunshine of that February morning they awaited the arrival of the Vicomte and his sponsor.

But the minutes went by and still they waited-five, ten, fifteen minutes elapsed, yet no one came. Juste was on the point of returning within to seek the reason of this delay when steps sounded on the terrace above. But they were accompanied by the rustle of a gown, and presently it was Mademoiselle who appeared before them. The two men eyed her with astonishment, which in the case of La Boulaye, was tempered by another feeling.

"Monsieur la Boulaye," said she, her glance wandering towards the Captain, "may I speak with you alone?"

Outwardly impassive the Commissioner bowed.

"Your servant, Citoyenne," said he, removing his cocked hat.

"Juste, will you give us leave?"

"You will find me on the terrace when you want me, Citizen-deputy," answered the officer, and saluting, he departed.

For a moment or two after he was gone Suzanne and Caron stood confronting each other in silence. She seemed smitten with a sudden awkwardness, and she looked away from him what time he waited, hat in hand, the chill morning breeze faintly stirring a loose strand of his black hair.

"Monsieur," she faltered at last, "I am come to intercede."

At that a faint smile hovered a second on the Republican's thin lips.

"And is the noblesse of France fallen so low that it sends its women to intercede for the lives of its men? But, perhaps," he added cynically, "it had not far to fall."

Her cheeks reddened. His insult to her class acted upon her as a spur and overcame the irresoluteness that seemed to have beset her.

"To insult the fallen, sir, is worthy of the new regime, whose representative you are, Enfine! We must take it, I suppose, as we take everything else in these disordered times - with a bent head and a meek submission."

"From the little that I have seen, Citoyenne," he answered, very coldly, roused in his turn, "it rather seems that you take things on your knees and with appeals for mercy."

"Monsieur," she cried, and her eyes now met his in fearless anger, "if you persist in these gratuitous insults I shall leave you."

He laughed in rude amusement, and put on his hat. The spell that for a moment her beauty had cast over him when first she had appeared had been attenuating. It now broke suddenly, and as he covered himself his whole manner changed.

"Is this interview of my seeking?" he asked. "It is your brother I am awaiting. Name of a name, Citoyenne, do you think my patience inexhaustible? The ci-devant Vicomte promised to attend me here.

It was the boast of your order that whatever sins you might be guilty of you never broke your word. Have you lost even that virtue, which served you as a cloak for untold vices? And is your brother fled into the woods whilst you, his sister, come here to intercede with me for his wretched life? Pah! In the old days you aroused my hatred by your tyrannies and your injustices; to-day you weary and disgust me by your ineffable cowardices, from that gentleman in Paris who now calls himself Orleans-Egalite downwards."

"Monsieur,"she began But he was not yet done. His cheeks were flushed with a reflection of the heart within.

"Citoyenne, I have a debt to discharge, and I will discharge it in full. Intercessions are vain with me. I cannot forget. Send me your brother within ten minutes to meet me here, man to man, and he shall have - all of you shall have - the chance that lies in such an encounter. But woe unto every man at Bellecour if he should fail me. Citoyenne, you know my mind."

But she overlooked the note of dismissal in his voice.

"You speak of a debt that you must discharge," said she, with no whit less heat than he had exhibited. "You refer to the debt of vengeance which you look to discharge by murdering that boy, my brother. But do you not owe me a debt also?"

"You?" he questioned. "My faith! Unless it be a debt of scorn, I know of none."

"Aye," she returned wistfully, "you are like the rest. You have a long memory for injuries, but a short one for benefits. Had it not been for me, Monsieur, you would not be here now to demand this that you call satisfaction. Have you forgotten how I - "

"No," he broke in. "I well remember how you sought to stay them when they were flogging me in the yard there. But you came too late. You might have come before, for from the balcony above you had been watching my torture. But you waited overlong. I was cast out for dead.".

She flashed him a searching glance, as though she sought to read his thoughts, and to ascertain whether he indeed believed what he was saying.

"Cast out for dead?" she echoed. "And by whose contrivance? By mine, M. la Boulaye. When they were cutting you down they discovered that you were not dead, and but that I bribed the men to keep it secret and carry you to Duhamel's house, they had certainly informed my father and you would have been finished off."

His eyes opened wide now, and into them there came a troubled look - the look of one who is endeavouring to grasp an elusive recollection.

"Ma foi," he muttered. "It seems to come to me as if I had heard something of the sort in a dream. It was - " He paused, and his brows were knit a moment. Then he looked up suddenly, and gradually his face cleared. "Why, yes - I have it!" he exclaimed. "It was in Duhamel's house. While I was lying half unconscious on the couch I heard one of the men telling Duhamel that you had paid them to carry me there and to keep a secret."

"And you had forgotten that?" she asked, with the faintest note of contempt.

同类推荐
  • THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

    THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 法王经

    法王经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 外科方外奇方

    外科方外奇方

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 后汉书

    后汉书

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Yellow God

    The Yellow God

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 二重犯

    二重犯

    外表看似18岁少女,内心却住着一个48岁抠脚大汉的90后射手座女屌丝。重口味,资深美剧日漫迷,恐怖电影B级片发烧粉。脑洞上的巨人,行动上的矮子,拖延癌已弃疗。一觉醒来,你发现四周有些不对劲。首先是家具摆设。你意识到这里既不是阴暗潮湿的看守所,也不是后来被列入案发现场的凌乱出租房,而是摆设整齐的、案发之前的你的家。
  • 亡妻之战

    亡妻之战

    好不容易干翻了邪恶主神获得了自由,关关的转世却不太顺利——她成为了一名“亡妻”。在奥尔蓝,所谓亡妻,并非是死去的妻子,而是从生下来便没有意识,但却拥有新生力,一辈子无知无觉,只能作为机器存在的女性。而关关的抗争,就是从这里开始的。
  • 临终的侦探

    临终的侦探

    选自福尔摩斯探案故事集,包括《临终的侦探》《王冠宝石案》《希腊译员》等多篇脍炙人口的短篇小说。小说结构严谨,情节离奇曲折、引人人胜。以跌宕起伏的情节、缜密的逻辑推理、细致的心理分析,给读者呈现一个冷静、智慧与勇气并存的神探福尔摩斯。
  • 大明文士

    大明文士

    在平行世界的大明弘治年间,作为现代人的林云轩穿越而来。啥米?这个平行世界竟然没有史上的那些文人墨客。李白、杜甫、白居易、王维等等唐诗宋词的佼佼者统统没有,这下发达了咱也做一回风流才子。修身,咱这唐诗宋词随便抄;齐家,一人得道鸡犬升天;治国,嬉笑怒骂笑傲朝堂;平天下,咱运筹帷幄决胜千里.......书友交流QQ群:947634446
  • 追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    青涩蜕变,如今她是能独当一面的女boss,爱了冷泽聿七年,也同样花了七年时间去忘记他。以为是陌路,他突然向他表白,扬言要娶她,她只当他是脑子抽风,他的殷勤她也全都无视。他帮她查她父母的死因,赶走身边情敌,解释当初拒绝她的告别,和故意对她冷漠都是无奈之举。突然爆出她父母的死居然和冷家有丝毫联系,还莫名跳出个公爵未婚夫,扬言要与她履行婚约。峰回路转,破镜还能重圆吗? PS:我又开新文了,每逢假期必书荒,新文《有你的世界遇到爱》,喜欢我的文的朋友可以来看看,这是重生类现言,对这个题材感兴趣的一定要收藏起来。
  • 绝世杀神

    绝世杀神

    一代杀手之王穿越异界重生会掀起异界怎么样的腥风血雨?翻手为云覆手为雨!霸气凛然唯吾独尊!匹夫一怒血溅五步,帝王一怒伏尸千里。杀神一怒苍生哭泣!我心向恶,苍生何尔?
  • 三界协管员

    三界协管员

    天地未分阴阳之时,绝世大能一剑四分宇宙,留下五道造化后挥袖离去。后世万族为了争夺造化,战火绵延亿万年。今世,被流放地球的三界协管员王小凡为了恢复修为,带着一条狗,一把铲,踏天路上撸羊毛。
  • 探索宝藏未解之谜

    探索宝藏未解之谜

    人类最大的幸福之一就是对未知的探索,而人类社会的进步也完全有赖于这种探索。当科学家去研究一个定理时,他根本就不知道这个理论对未来会有什么用,就像一个伟大的科学家所说的,我们能要求一个婴儿做什么呢?但事实证明,每项发现与发明都有它实际的用处。而对于宝藏的追求,实际的好处是显而易见的,而人们对这一领域的探索更是热情无比。
  • 埃及与中东

    埃及与中东

    本书主要论述了埃及自1952年7月成立共和国以业国内局势及其国际关系发展的历史过程,特别是通过对纳赛尔、萨达特和穆巴拉克三位总统执政时期埃及对外政策的特点和变化的分析研究,介绍了埃及在当代中东的政治发展和社会变革中所具有的影响力,以及它与该地区一些主要国家的关系演变。本书的目的是为了帮助读者了解埃及中东政策的演变过程和客观依据。
  • 三拂袖

    三拂袖

    北海孤岛,一颗卵石,方圆不见草木。不知何年月,一朵野绛草,居然裂石而出。某日,花开楚楚,格外碍眼。微风晃动,他不经意皱了皱眉头,挥挥衣袖,足踏九天彩云而登帝位。心动,风动耳?“喔,是吗,和尚?道士?”她着绛红衣衫嬉笑道。眼睛满是流水里面梨影匆匆,洒然一笑。他有一瞬间恍惚,突然这梨花似雪,落落纷扬。遮盖了满眼,以至于最后她跃然一跳,让他竟然有痛悔一念