Part 57 (1/2)
”What is it?” he asked
”The scouts, citizen,” replied the sergeant, who had been riding close to the coach door all this while; ”they have returned”
”Tell one uerite sat quite still Indeed, she had almost ceased to live momentarily, for her spirit was absent froue, nor cold, nor pain But she heard the snorting of the horse close by as its rider pulled hie door
”Well?” said Chauvelin curtly
”This is the cross-road, citizen,” replied the ht into the wood, and the haht”
”Did you follow the road in the wood?”
”Yes, citizen About two leagues fro with a s the trees
Opposite to it the angle of a high ith large wrought-iron gates at the corner, and froh a park”
”Did you turn into the drive?”
”Only a little way, citizen We thought we had best report first that all is safe”
”You saw no one?”
”No one”
”The chateau, then, lies soue or ates there are outhouses and stabling, the disused buildings of the hoht road, that is clear Keep ahead with your men now, but only some two hundred hts ”Ride down to the other coach and ask the prisoner if we are on the right track”
The rider turned his horse sharply round Marguerite heard-the clang ofhoofs
A few moments later the man returned
”Yes, citizen,” he reported, ”the prisoner says it is quite right The Chateau d'Ourde lies a full league froates This is the nearest road to the chapel and the chateau He says we should reach the former in half an hour It will be very dark in there,” he added with a significant nod in the direction of the wood
Chauvelin made no reply, but quietly stepped out of the coach
Marguerite watched hiure as he pushed his way past the groups ofat a horse's bit now and then, or at a bridle,anihtest hesitation or fear
Soon his retreating figure lost its sharp outline silhouetted against the evening sky It was enfolded in the veil of vapour which was blown out of the horses' nostrils or rising frohost-like, through the roup of troopers hid him entirely from her view, but she could hear his thin, smooth voice quite clearly as he called to citizen Heron
”We are close to the end of our journey now, citizen,” she heard him say ”If the prisoner has not played us false little Capet should be in our charge within the hour”
A growl not unlike those that came from out the mysterious depths of the forest answered hinised the harsh tones of citizen Heron--”if he is not, then two corpses will be rotting in this wood tomorrow for the wolves to feed on, and the prisoner will be on his way back to Paris with ht have been one of the troopers, h had a strange, faone