Part 35 (1/2)
”It is some mistake. You have no business to arrest me. You will answer for this, police! You will answer it to Monsieur le Prefet. He is ill, and cannot have given the order. Show me your authority.”
”Never mind our authority,” said the chief. ”We don't want Monsieur de la Mariniere, but we do want his son. Are you coming quietly, young gentleman, or must we put on handcuffs? Get out of the way with your stick, you one-legged fellow, or I shall have to punish you.”
”Keep back, Martin; you can do nothing. Go and tell my father,” said Angelot. He shook off the men's hands, and stood still and upright in the midst of them.
”Why do you arrest me?” he said. ”Where are you going to take me?”
”Ah, that you will see,” said the police officer.
The snarling malice in his voice seemed suddenly familiar to Angelot.
”Why, I know you--you are--”
”Never mind who I am. It is my business to keep down Chouans.”
”But I am not a Chouan!”
”A man is known by his company. Now then--quick march--away!”
”Adieu, Martin! This is all nonsense--I shall soon come back,” Angelot cried, as they hustled him on.
A few moments, and the very tramp of their feet was lost in the dusk, for they had dragged their prisoner out of the lane and were crossing the open moor. Martin, in much tribulation, made the best of his way back to meet his father and mother, and with them carried the news to La Mariniere.
Half an hour later, Monsieur Urbain, whistling gaily, came back from a pleasant stroll home with his Sainfoy cousins. Everything seemed satisfactory; Adelade had been kind, the vintage was splendid. If only Angelot were a sensible boy, there would be nothing left to wish for.
The moon was up, flooding the old yards that were now empty and still.
As he came near, he saw Anne waiting for him in the porch, and supposed that the moonlight made her so strangely pale.
”My dearest,” he said, as he came up, ”there is to be a ball this month at Lancilly, in honour of Georges. But I do not know whether that foolish son of yours will be invited.”
Anne looked him in the face; no, it was not the moonlight that made her so pale.
”They have arrested Ange as a Chouan,” she said.
CHAPTER XX
HOW ANGELOT CLIMBED A TREE
The police had caught Angelot; but they did not keep him long.
They had to do with a young man who knew every yard of that wild country far better than they did, and was almost as much a part of it as the birds and beasts that haunted it.
”Where are you taking me?” he said, as they walked across the high expanse of the _landes_, dimly lighted by the last glimmer of day. ”This is a very roundabout way to Sonnay-le-Loir.”
”It is not the way at all,” said the officer who took the lead, ”and we know that as well as you.”
”But I demand to be taken to Sonnay,” Angelot said, and stopped. ”The warrant for my arrest, if you have such a thing, must be from the Prefect. Take me to him, and I will soon convince him that there is some mistake.”
”Monsieur le Prefet is ill, as you know. Walk on, if you please.”