FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123  
124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   >>   >|  
eet, which gave these things their full effect--that for a moment neither of us answered. Then the King spoke. "Indeed, M. l'Empereur," he said gravely; "and where is the shutter?" The boy pointed to an open shutter at the top of the house behind him. "Ah!" Henry said. "And you wish us to close it?" "If you please, messieurs." "We do please," Henry replied, saluting him with mock reverence. "You may consider the shutter closed. Lead on, Monsieur; we follow." For the first time the boy looked doubtful; but he turned without saying anything, and passing through the doorway, was in an instant lost in the pitchy darkness of the entry. I laid my hand on the King's arm, and tried to induce him not to follow; fearing much that this might be some new thieves' trap, leading nowhither save to the POIRE D'ANGOISSE and the poniard. But the attempt was hopeless from the first; he broke from me and entered, and I followed him. We groped for the balustrade and found it, and began to ascend, guided by the boy's voice; who kept a little before us, saying continually, "This way, messieurs; this way!" His words had so much the sound of a signal, and the staircase was so dark and ill-smelling, that, expecting every moment to be seized or to have a knife in my back, I found it almost interminable. At last, however, a gleam of light appeared above us, the boy opened a door, and we found ourselves standing on a mean, narrow landing, the walls of which had once been whitewashed. The child signed to us to enter, and we followed him into a bare attic, where our heads nearly touched the ceiling. "Messieurs, the air is keen," he said in a curiously formal tone. "Will you please to close the shutter?" The King, amused and full of wonder, looked round. The room contained little besides a table, a stool, and a lamp standing in a basin on the floor; but an alcove, curtained with black, dingy hangings, broke one wall. "Your father lies there?" Henry said, pointing to it. "Yes, monsieur." "He feels the cold?" "Yes, monsieur. Will you please to close the shutter?" I went to it, and, leaning out, managed, with a little difficulty, to comply. Meanwhile, the King, gazing curiously at the curtains, gradually approached the alcove. He hesitated long, he told me afterwards, before he touched the hangings; but at length, feeling sure that there was something more in the business than appeared, he did so. Drawing one gent
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123  
124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
shutter
 

looked

 

follow

 

curiously

 

touched

 
standing
 
alcove
 

hangings

 
appeared
 

monsieur


messieurs

 

moment

 
contained
 

ceiling

 
Messieurs
 

formal

 
amused
 
effect
 

answered

 

opened


interminable

 

whitewashed

 

signed

 

narrow

 

landing

 

approached

 

hesitated

 

gradually

 

curtains

 

difficulty


comply

 
Meanwhile
 

gazing

 

length

 

Drawing

 
business
 

feeling

 
managed
 

things

 
curtained

father
 

leaning

 
pointing
 
pitchy
 

darkness

 

induce

 
pointed
 

thieves

 
fearing
 

instant