Part 18 (2/2)
He dismissed me with a curt nod, and the next two minutes saw me outside this house of mystery and installed inside the ras
I orn out with fatigue and exciteine that I slept most of the way Certain it is that the journey ho as the outward one had been The rain was still co about the weather, nothing about fatigue
My path to fame and fortune had been made easier for me than inI would see Leroux and glers, and I thought the best ould be for him to meet me and the ”babies” and the ”toys” at the very outset of our journey, as I did not greatly relish the idea of crossing lonely and dangerous mountain paths in the company of these ruffians
I reached hoings, and I was about to alight whenwhite which lay on the front seat of the carriage, conspicuously placed so that the light from the inside lanthorn fell full upon it I had been too tired and too dazed, I suppose, to notice the thing before, but now, on closer inspection, I saw that it was a note, and that it was addressed to me: ”M Aristide Barrot, Interpreter,” and below ent”
I took the note feeling a thrill of excitehted, and the vehicle ilimpse of the horses, and none at all of the coachht of the table lanature, but at the first words I knew that the writer was none other than the lovely young creature who had appeared to el of innocence in the midst of that den of thieves
”Monsieur,” she had written in a hand which had clearly been treood, you are kind; I entreat you to be merciful My dear mother, whom I worshi+p, is sick with terror and er under the sway of that inhuman monster who, alas! is my own brother And if I lose her I shall die, too, for I should no longer have anyone to stand between me and his cruelties
”My dearat St Claude She would have gone to them before now, but my brother keeps us both virtual prisoners here, and we have nofor such a perilous journey for ourselves Now, by the ood fortune,night My dearus the way to our release
”Will you, can you help us, dear M Barrot? Mother and I will be at Gex to-morrow at one hour after sundown We will lie perdu in the little Taverne du Roi de Ro anxiously If you can do nothing to help us, wein my heart tells me that you can help us All that ant is a vehicle of some sort and the escort of a brave man like yourself as far as St Claude, where our relatives will thank you on their knees for your kindness and generosity to two helpless, miserable, unprotected woratitude and devotion”
It were impossible, Monsieur, to tell you of the varied emotions which filledappeal All my instincts of chivalry were aroused I was determined to do allant knight Even before I finally went to bed I had settled in my mind what I meant to do
Fortunately it was quite possible for me to reconcile my duties to my Emperor and those which I owed to myself in the lers, withdesire to be the saviour and protector of the lovely creature whose beauty had inflamed my iratitude and devotion
The nextLeroux and I were deep in our plans, whilst we sipped our coffee outside the Crane Chauve He was beside himself with joy and excitement at the prospective haul, which would, of course, redound enorh the success of the whole undertaking would be due to my acumen, my resourcefulness and er to render me what assistance he could in the matter of the two ladies who had thrown theet valuable inforratitude they s of the firm of Fournier Freres”
”Which further proves,” I remarked, ”how deeply you and Monsieur le Ministre of Police are indebted to ue the point Indeed, ere both of us far too s Our plans for the evening were fairly siiven me, until we felt that we could reach blindfolded the spot which had been ed that Leroux should betake hi the day, and lie hidden in the vicinity until such time as I myself appeared upon the scene, identified ht before, parleyed with the the law in all its majesty, as represented by Leroux, to deal with the rascals
In the ht's adventurous work I had hired a vehicle to take ues; here I intended to leave it at the local inn, and then proceed on foot up the mountain pass to the appointed spot As soon as I had seen the sendarues as rapidly as I could, step into my vehicle, drive like the wind back to Gex, and place el and her afflicted mother
Leroux promised me that at the customs station on the French frontier the officials would look after me and the ladies, and that a pair of fresh horses would be ready to take us straight on to St Claude, which, if all ell, we could then reach by daybreak
Having settled all these e his own affairs with the Commissary of Police and the customs officials, and I to aith as much patience as I could the hour when I could start for St Cergues
4
The night--just as I anticipated--promised to be very dark A thin drizzle, which wetted the unfortunate pedestrian to the marrow, had replaced the torrential rain of the previous day
Twilight was closing in very fast In the late autuues, after which I left the chaise in the village and boldly started to walk up the mountain pass I had studied the h ht o'clock, I wished to reach the appointed spot before the last flicker of grey light had disappeared from the sky
Soon I had left the last house well behind ed into the narrow path The loneliness of the place was indescribable Every step which I took on the stony track seehts which rose precipitously on either side of e of those --chose to affront such obvious and ions held for the to e, when on ahead I perceived the flicker of lights which appeared to be er seemed to be absolute A few , plotting and planning, unconscious of the net which the unerring hand of a skilful fowler had drawn round them and their misdeeds