Part 53 (1/2)
I need not ask either of you two to trustthat you will But I could not die inside this hole like a rat in a trap--I had to try and free myself, at the worst to die in the open beneath God's sky You till understand, and understanding you will trust me to the end Send the enclosed letter at once to its address And you, Ffoulkes,with all uerite Armand will stay by me--but you, Ffoulkes, do not leave her, stand by her As soon as you read this letter--and you will not read it until both she and you have felt that hope has fled and I e--try and persuade her to make for the coast as quickly as may be At Calais you can open up communications with the Day-Dream in the usual way, and eue reer after that Then tell the skipper to make for Le Portel--the place which he knows--and there to keep a sharp outlook for another three nights
After that er I shall not couerite's safety, and for you all who are in France at this moment Co wish To de Batz I have given rendezvous at the Chapelle of the Holy Sepulchre, just outside the park of the Chateau d'Ourde He will help ood luck he also helps ues of Le Portel, and with the Liane frozen as she is I could reach the coast
But Marguerite's safety I leave in your hands, Ffoulkes Would that I could look more clearly into the future, and know that those devils will not drag her into danger Beg her to start at once for Calais i, I do not command I know that you, Ffoulkes, will stand by her whatever shebe for ever on you both
Marguerite's voice died away in the silence that still lay over this deserted part of the great city and in this squalid house where she and Sir Andrew Ffoulkes had found shelter these last ten days The agony of , but scarcely ever hoping, had found its cule, which alrave
It had been written ten days ago A plan had then apparently for the brief half-hour's respite which those fiends had once given hiiven hione by how one by too on the leaden wings of all those terrible hours spent in solitude and in misery?
”We can but hope, Lady Blakeney,” said Sir Andrew Ffoulkes after a while, ”that you will be allowed out of Paris; but from what Armand says--”
”And Percy does not actually send me away,” she rejoined with a pathetic little smile
”No He cannot coue”
”Oh, yes, I am!” she retorted firmly; ”and I have sworn obedience, just as all of you have done I will go, just as he bids me, and you, Sir Andrew, you will obey him too?”
”My orders are to stand by you That is an easy task”
”You knohere this place is?” she asked--”the Chateau d'Ourde?”
”Oh, yes, we all know it! It is empty, and the park is a wreck; the owner fled from it at the very outbreak of the revolution; he left soe, a curious creature, half imbecile; the chateau and the chapel in the forest just outside the grounds have oft served Blakeney and all of us as a place of refuge on our way to the coast”
”But the Dauphin is not there?” she said
”No According to the first letter which you brought o, and on which I acted, Tony, who has charge of the Dauphin, must have crossed into Holland with his little Majesty to-day”
”I understand,” she said simply ”But then--this letter to de Batz?”
”Ah, there I am completely at sea! But I'll deliver it, and at once too, only I don't like to leave you Will you let et you out of Paris first? I think just before dawn it could be done We can get the cart from Lucas, and if we could reach St Gerht back then and deliver the letter to de Batz This, I feel, I ought to do myself; but at Achard's farm I would know that you were safe for a few hours”
”I will do whatever you think right, Sir Andrew,” she said si wish God knoould rather follow hi as I can see hio, alreat calht her indifferent She was very pale, and deep circles round her eyes told of sleepless nights and days of mental misery, but otherwise there was not the faintest outward sy her heartstrings Her lips did not quiver, and the source of her tears had been dried up ten days ago
”Ten minutes and I'll be ready, Sir Andrew,” she said ”I have but few belongings Will you the while see Lucas about the cart?”
He did as she desired Her cal keenly, and would sufferto efface her own personal feelings all through that co dreary journey to Calais
He went to see the landlord about the horse and cart, and a quarter of an hour later Marguerite came downstairs ready to start She found Sir Andrew in close converse with an officer of the Garde de Paris, whilst two soldiers of the sa at the horse's head
When she appeared in the doorway Sir Andrew came at once up to her
”It is just as I feared, Lady Blakeney,” he said; ”this e of you Of course, he knows nothing beyond the fact that his orders are to convey you at once to the guard-house of the Rue Ste Anne, where he is to hand you over to citizen Chauvelin of the Committee of Public Safety”
Sir Andrew could not fail to see the look of intense relief which, in the hted up the whole of Marguerite's wan face The thought of wending her oay to safety whilst Percy, ht with death had been well-nigh intolerable; but she had been ready to obey without a murmur Now Fate and the enemy himself had decided otherwise She felt as if a load had been lifted froo and find de Batz,” Sir Andrew contrived to whisper hurriedly ”As soon as Percy's letter is safely in his hands I will make my way northwards and coue, on whom the chief has so strictly enjoined to quit French soil immediately