Part 48 (1/2)
They conducted him to the room, and on finding that none of the double-barrelled guns had been used for some days, he seemed considerably annoyed.
He appeared furious when the corporal came and told him that he had searched everywhere, but had found nothing of a suspicious character.
”Send for the servants,” was his next order.
But all the servants faithfully repeated the lesson which the abbe had given them.
The captain saw that he was not likely to discover the mystery, although he was well satisfied that one existed.
Swearing that they should pay dearly for it, if they were deceiving him, he again called Bavois.
”I must continue my search,” said he. ”You, with two men, will remain here, and render a strict account of all that you see and hear. If Monsieur d'Escorval returns, bring him to me at once; do not allow him to escape. Keep your eyes open, and good luck to you!”
He added a few words in a low voice, then left the room as abruptly as he had entered it.
The departing footsteps of the soldiers were soon lost in the stillness of the night, and then the corporal gave vent to his disgust in a frightful oath.
”_Hein_!” said he, to his men, ”you have heard that cadet. Listen, watch, arrest, report. So he takes us for spies! Ah! if our old leader knew to what base uses his old soldiers were degraded!”
The two men responded by a sullen growl.
”As for you,” pursued the old trooper, addressing Maurice and the abbe, ”I, Bavois, corporal of grenadiers, declare in my name and in that of my two men, that you are as free as birds, and that we shall arrest no one.
More than that, if we can aid you in any way, we are at your service.
The little fool that commanded us this evening thought we were fighting.
Look at my gun; I have not fired a shot from it; and my comrades fired only blank cartridges.”
The man might possibly be sincere, but it was scarcely probable.
”We have nothing to conceal,” replied the cautious priest.
The old corporal gave a knowing wink.
”Ah! you distrust me! You are wrong; and I am going to prove it.
Because, you see, though it is easy to gull that fool who just left here, it is not so easy to deceive Corporal Bavois. Very well! it was scarcely prudent to leave in the court-yard a gun that certainly had not been charged for firing at swallows.”
The cure and Maurice exchanged a glance of consternation. Maurice now recollected, for the first time, that when he sprang from the carriage to lift out Marie-Anne, he propped his loaded gun against the wall. It had escaped the notice of the servants.
”Secondly,” pursued Bavois, ”there is someone concealed in the attic. I have excellent ears. Thirdly, I arranged it so that no one should enter the sick lady's room.”
Maurice needed no further proof. He extended his hand to the corporal, and, in a voice trembling with emotion, he said:
”You are a brave man!”
A few moments later, Maurice, the abbe, and Mme. d'Escorval were again a.s.sembled in the drawing-room, deliberating upon the measures which must be taken, when Marie-Anne appeared.
She was still frightfully pale; but her step was firm, her manner quiet and composed.