United States or Gambia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The duke, after a moment's hesitation and bewilderment, raised his pistol and fired; but the active little scoundrel was safe among the trees, and we heard the twigs cracking and the leaves rustling as he pushed his way through the wood. He was gone scot free for us, but with his score to Lafleur well paid.
Lafleur held the lantern; Pierre's hand was near the lock, and I presumed I could not see that he held some instrument with which he meant to open it. A ring of trees framed the picture, and the men sat in a hollow, well hidden from the path even had it been high day. The Duke of Saint-Maclou touched my arm, and I leaned forward to look in his face.
And while he said it he laughed, and took advantage of Lafleur's posture to give him four or five hearty kicks. "It's empty!" cried Lafleur, surprise rescuing him for an instant from the other emotions to which his position gave occasion. And, as he spoke, for the first time Pierre started, turning an eager gaze toward the box. "Yes, it's empty," said the duke. "The necklace isn't there, is it?
Absorbed in his task, he heard me not; and coming up I set my foot on the pistol that lay by him, and caught him, as the duke had caught Lafleur his comrade, by the nape of the neck, and said to him, in a bantering tone: "Well, is it not there, my friend?" He wriggled; but the strength of the little man in a struggle at close quarters was as nothing, and I held him easily with my one sound hand.
Roland chose a young man called Couderc de Mazel-Rozade, who had assumed the name of Lafleur, as his lieutenant, and the rebel forces were not only quickly reorganised, but made complete by the addition of a hundred men raised by the new lieutenant, and soon gave a sign that they were again on the war-path by burning down the churches of Bousquet, Cassagnas, and Prunet.
I turned to listen, forgetful of quiet little Pierre and his alert beady eyes; yet I kept the pistol on him. And Lafleur cried: "At the convent at the convent, on the shores of the bay!"
And with the first, Lafleur, who was kneeling at the duke's feet and looking up to see how his shaft had sped, flung his arms wildly over his head, gave a shriek, and fell dead his head, half-shattered, striking the iron box as he fell sideways in a heap on the ground.
"What's that man here for?" she asked. "Because I have engaged him to assist my household." "I had dismissed him," she said haughtily. "I must beg you to postpone the execution of your decree," said he. "I have need of a servant, and I have no time to find another." "What need is there of another? Is not Lafleur here?" "Lafleur comes to-morrow; but he will not be enough."
It is the same with the deputies and peers who discuss the laws, of ministers who share the toils of the king, of secretaries who work with the ministers, of soldiers on campaign, and indeed with the corporal of the police patrol, as the letter of Lafleur, in the Sentimental Journey, plainly shows.
It happened to be, for the moment, in the way of my business to carry valuables, but I hoped it would not be for long, so that I did not buy a pistol; but I allowed myself to wonder what my friend Lafleur wanted with two and they were not dueling pistols! If I had been going to keep the diamonds but then I was not. And, reminded by this reflection, I set out at once for the convent.
Word Of The Day