Part 29 (1/2)
The others were silent What was the use of arguing? One of theuerite Blakeney! Was it likely that Percy would leave him in the lurch
”One of us will stay with you, of course?” asked Sir Andrew after awhile
”Yes! I want Hastings and Tony to take the child to Mantes, then to make all possible haste for Calais, and there to keep in close touch with the Day-Dream; the skipper will contrive to open communication Tell him to remain in Calais waters I hope I may have need of hiaily ”Hastings, when you are ready, I will hand up the child to you He will be quite safe on the pillion with a strap round hi iven, there was nothing to do but to obey; and the uncrowned King of France was not yet out of danger Hastings and Tony led two of the horses out of the spinney; at the roadside they mounted, and then the little lad for whose sake so much heroism, such selfless devotion had been expended, was hoisted up, still half asleep, on the pillion in front of s
”Keep your arm round hih But put on speed as far as Mantes, and uard you both!”
The two men pressed their heels to their horses' flanks, the beasts snorted and pawed the ground anxious to start There were a fehispered farewells, two loyal hands were stretched out at the last, eager to grasp the leader's hand
Then horses and riders disappeared in the utter darkness which comes before the dawn
Blakeney and Ffoulkes stood side by side in silence for as long as the pawing of hoofs in the mud could reach their ears, then Ffoulkes asked abruptly:
”What do you want me to do, Blakeney?”
”Well, for the present, my dear felloant you to take one of the three horses we have left in the spinney, and put him into the shafts of our old friend the coal-cart; then I ao back the e came”
”Yes?”
”Continue to heave coal on the canal wharf by La Villette; it is the best way to avoid attention After your day's work keep your cart and horse in readiness against ht If after having waited for hts you neither see nor hear anything fro ave it for her!”
”Blakeney--!”
”I spoke differently to what I usually do, is that it?” he interposed, placing his fir, Ffoulkes--that's what it is Pay no heed to it I suppose that carrying that sleeping child in ht softened some nerves in uely wondered if I had not saved it froe it in another
There was such a fateful look on that wan little face, as if destiny had already writ its veto there against happiness It came on me then how futile were our actions, if God chooses to interpose His will between us and our desires”
Alainst the puddles in the road Overhead the clouds flew by at terrific speed, driven along by the blustering wind It was less dark now, and Sir Andrew, peering through the glooularly pale and hard, and the deep-set lazy eyes had in them just that fateful look which he himself had spoken of just now
”You are anxious about Armand, Percy?” asked Ffoulkes softly
”Yes He should have trusted ate on Friday, and without a thought left me--left us all in the lurch; he threw hiirl he loved I knew that I could save her She is in comparative safety even now The old woman, Madame Belhomme, had been freely released the day after her arrest, but Jeanne Lange is still in the house in the Rue de Charonne You know it, Ffoulkes I got her there early thisIt was easy for me, of course: 'Hola, Dupont!
hter--' 'Curse thy daughter, bring e walked out of the Temple prison her hand in that of that lout Dupont”
”But Armand does not know that she is in the Rue de Charonne?”
”No I have not seen hi on Saturday when he ca sworn that he would obey me, he went to meet you and Tony at La Villette, but returned to Paris a few hours later, and drew the undivided attention of all the coe by his senseless, foolish inquiries But for his action throughout the whole of yesterday I could have sot her to join you at Villette, or Hastings in St
Ger closely watched for her, and I had the Dauphin to think of She is in comparative safety; the people in the Rue de Charonne are friendly for the ? Who knows? I must look after her of course And Armand! Poor old Armand! The lion's jaws have snapped over hi him as a decoy to trap me, of course All that had not happened if Arh of iret Ffoulkes was the one uess the bitter disappointed to be back in England soon, back to Marguerite, to a few days of unalloyed happiness and a few days of peace
Now Armand's actions had retarded all that; they were a deliberate bar to the future as it had been , as prepared for every eventuality