hat with which the
fisherman casts his net. The huge, heavy mantle spread itself out like
a dense cloud directly above de Sigognac, and falling over and about him
enveloped him from head to foot in its long, clinging folds, held
firmly down by the lead with which its edges were weighted--making him a
helpless prisoner--depriving him at once of sight and breath, and of the
use of his hands and feet. The young actress, wild with terror, turned
to fly and call for help, but before she could stir, or utter a sound,
a hand was clapped over her mouth, and she felt herself lifted from the
ground. The old blind beggar, who, as by a miracle, had suddenly become
young and active, and possessed of all his faculties, had seized her by
the shoulders, while the boy took her by the feet, and they carried her
swiftly and silently round a clump of bushes near by to where a man on
horseback and masked, was waiting for them. Two other men, also mounted
and masked, and armed to the teeth, were standing close at hand, behind
a wall that prevented their being seen from the road. Poor Isabelle,
nearly fainting with fright, was lifted up in front of the first
horseman, and seated on a cloak folded so as to serve for a cushion; a
broad leather strap being passed round her waist, which also encircled
that of the rider, to hold her securely in her place. All this was done
with great rapidity and dexterity, as if her captors were accustomed
to such manoeuvres, and then the horseman, who held her firmly with one
hand, shook his bridle with the other, drove his spurs into the horse's
sides, and was off like a flash--the whole thing being done in less
time than it takes to describe it. Meanwhile de Sigognac was struggling
fiercely and wildly under the heavy cloak that enveloped him--like a
gladiator entangled in his adversary's net--beside himself with rage and
despair, as he gasped for breath in his stifling prison, and
realized that this diabolical outrage must be the work of the Duke of
Vallombreuse. Suddenly, like an inspiration, the thought flashed into
his mind of using his dagger to free himself from the thick, clinging
folds, that weighed him down like the leaden cloaks of the wretched
condemned spirits we read of with a shudder in Dante's Inferno. With two
or three strong, quick strokes he succeeded in cutting through it, and
casting it from him, with a fierce imprecation, perceived Isabelle's
abductors, still near at hand, galloping across a