Read Online Free Book

Count Hannibal

Page 181

In a small back room on the second floor of the inn at Angers, a mean,

dingy room which looked into a narrow lane, and commanded no prospect

more informing than a blind wall, two men sat, fretting; or, rather, one

man sat, his chin resting on his hand, while his companion, less patient

or more sanguine, strode ceaselessly to and fro. In the first despair of

capture--for they were prisoners--they had made up their minds to the

worst, and the slow hours of two days had passed over their heads without

kindling more than a faint spark of hope in their breasts. But when they

had been taken out and forced to mount and ride--at first with feet tied

to the horses' girths--they had let the change, the movement, and the

open air fan the flame. They had muttered a word to one another, they

had wondered, they had reasoned. And though the silence of their

guards--from whose sour vigilance the keenest question drew no

response--seemed of ill-omen, and, taken with their knowledge of the man

into whose hands they had fallen, should have quenched the spark, these

two, having special reasons, the one the buoyancy of youth, the other the

faith of an enthusiast, cherished the flame. In the breast of one indeed

it had blazed into a confidence so arrogant that he now took all for

granted, and was not content.

"It is easy for you to say 'Patience!'" he cried, as he walked the floor

in a fever. "You stand to lose no more than your life, and if you escape

go free at all points! But he has robbed me of more than life! Of my

love, and my self-respect, curse him! He has worsted me not once, but

twice and thrice! And if he lets me go now, dismissing me with my life,

I shall--I shall kill him!" he concluded, through his teeth.

"You are hard to please!"

"I shall kill him!"

"That were to fall still lower!" the minister answered, gravely regarding

him. "I would, M. de Tignonville, you remembered that you are not yet

out of jeopardy. Such a frame of mind as yours is no good preparation

for death, let me tell you!"

"He will not kill us!" Tignonville cried. "He knows better than most men

how to avenge himself!"

"Then he is above most!" La Tribe retorted. "For my part I wish I were

sure of the fact, and I should sit here more at ease."

"If we could escape, now, of ourselves!" Tignonville cried. "Then we

should save not only life, but honour! Man, think of it! If we could

escape, not by his leave, but against it! Are you sure that this is

Angers?"

"As sure as a man can be who has only seen the Black Town once or twice!"

La Tribe answered, moving to the casement--which was not glazed--and

peering through the rough wooden lattice. "But if we could escape we are

strangers here. We know not which way to go, nor where to find shelter.

And for the matter of that," he continued, turning from the window with a

shrug of resignation, "'tis no use to talk of it while yonder foot goes

up and down the passage, and its owner bears the key in his pocket."

PrevPage ListNext