FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   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   >>   >|  
nd thrown to the ground, his assailant whispering to him as he held him down with a grasp like that of a vice, "Keep quiet, good Master Jean. This business does not concern you, and you shall be set free in a minute or two." Jean Perigord had too brave a heart for that, however, and he struggled to get loose. He succeeded in raising himself a little, but it was only to hear a shriek, and to see the unhappy girl borne past him by two men, who carried her down the steps and placed her in a boat that lay at the landing-place. The next moment he saw two other men carrying past him what seemed to be the figure of a man struggling in the folds of a cloak that had apparently been thrown over him. The muffled form was thrown into the same boat, which was then instantly shoved off. "Now, my good Jean," said the man, as he let go his hold of the innkeeper, "just go home and keep your tongue quiet--it will be best for you. I shall have an eye on you, and if you blab about what you have seen, why you will stand a good chance of sharing the same fate as your friends yonder. They have been arrested under the king's _lettre de cachet_, and if you meddle in the matter you are a dead man." Half an hour later Monsieur de Crillon received the report of his chief _employe_, which was to the effect that the young marquis had been overheard whilst discovering himself to Jean Perigord, and that he and the young female who had previously reached the "Great Gun" had been seized and conveyed to the prison of Bouffay, where they awaited Monsieur de Crillon's further orders. "Let the horses be got ready and brought round at once," was the reply, and his follower retired to give directions accordingly. In the meanwhile Jean Perigord had returned to his house in dire dismay at what had taken place, and his anxiety was heightened, if that were possible, by the reflection that he had very likely been made the means of decoying poor Marguerite into a trap. He could not help fearing, moreover, that the figure he had seen carried past him and thrown into the boat had been that of the poor young fellow her husband, who had doubtless been captured on the quay as he was landing. Without a thought about closing his house as usual, he threw himself into a chair and groaned aloud. What was he to do? Now he resolved to seek out the Marquis de Beaujardin at the Hotel Turenne; now again he shrank from such a step as he remembered that terrible
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   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   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

thrown

 

Perigord

 

landing

 

carried

 

Monsieur

 

Crillon

 

figure

 
retired
 

brought

 

follower


dismay
 

anxiety

 

ground

 

returned

 
horses
 
directions
 

orders

 

discovering

 

female

 

previously


reached

 

whilst

 

overheard

 

employe

 
effect
 

assailant

 

marquis

 
awaited
 

heightened

 

Bouffay


seized

 

conveyed

 

prison

 

reflection

 

resolved

 

Marquis

 

groaned

 

Beaujardin

 
remembered
 

terrible


shrank

 

Turenne

 

closing

 

decoying

 

Marguerite

 

captured

 

Without

 

thought

 
doubtless
 

husband