Part 19 (2/2)
”Why?”
”Both have been arrested; he, for conspiring against the government, she, as his accomplice.”
Coursegol uttered a terrible oath: then, turning to Vauquelas and seizing him by the collar, he cried:
”It was you, wretch, who betrayed them!”
”You are choking me!” groaned Vauquelas, breathless in Coursegol's violent grasp.
”Tell me where they are!” thundered Coursegol. ”I must see them. Where are they?”
”Release me,” gasped Vauquelas.
This time Coursegol obeyed; but he stood before Vauquelas, angry and menacing. The latter trembled. He had not foreseen that Coursegol would hold him accountable for the arrest of Philip and Dolores.
”Explain and quickly!” cried Coursegol.
”The soldiers came to the house in pursuit of young Philip, who had taken refuge in this room. To save him, Dolores said she was his wife.
Philip, fearing she would be compromised, denied her statement; and as their explanation did not seem sufficiently clear, they were both taken to prison.”
”Could you not have vouched for them--declared that they were friends of yours?”
”I did all I could to save them,” whined Vauquelas.
”You lie! you lie! I tell you, you lie! It was you who betrayed them! I am sure of it. You trembled for your life, for your money. Woe be unto you!”
And Coursegol accompanied those words with a gesture so menacing that Vauquelas, believing his last hour had come, fell on his knees begging for mercy. But Coursegol seemed pitiless.
”Poor children! that death should overtake them just as Providence had united them. Wretch! fool! you were less merciful than destiny.”
”Have pity!”
”Had you any pity on them? No! Ah well! you shall die!”
And drawing from his pocket a dagger that he always carried with him, Coursegol raised it above the old man's head.
”But if I promise to save them--”
The hand of Coursegol, raised to strike, fell.
”You will save them! That is only another lie. How can you save them?
The prisons of the Republic release their victims only to send them to the guillotine.”
”I will bribe the jailers to let them escape.”
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