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Updated: May 20, 2025
"Chupin, my boy," said he, "I do not ask you to discover Monsieur d'Escorval in order to denounce him; far from it I only desire you to ascertain if anyone at Saint-Pavin, or at Saint-Jean-de-Coche, knows of his having crossed the frontier." On hearing the name Saint-Jean-de-Coche, Chupin's face blanched. "Do you wish me to be murdered?" he exclaimed, remembering Balstain and his vow.
They had bound Lacheneur's hands, and the party were about to descend the mountain, when a man appeared, bareheaded, covered with perspiration, and panting for breath. Twilight was falling, but M. Lacheneur recognized Balstain. "Ah! you have him!" he exclaimed, as soon as he was within hearing distance, and pointing to the prisoner.
Not that he feared the game-keeper or a verbal process, but wherever he went, he fancied he saw Balstain walking in his shadow, with that terrible knife in his hand. Seeing Mme. Blanche he tried to hide himself in the forest, but she prevented it by calling: "Father Chupin!" He hesitated for a moment, then he paused, dropped his gun, and waited. Aunt Medea was pale with fright.
Endeavor to discover her retreat before Monday, when I will meet you here again." "I will try," Chupin answered. He did indeed try; he exerted all his energy and cunning, but in vain. He was fettered by the precautions which he took against Balstain and against Jean Lacheneur. On the other hand, no one in the neighborhood would have consented to give him the least information.
"The promises of reward have set all evil-minded people on the alert. They know that you are in the neighborhood. A rascally innkeeper has crossed the frontier for the express purpose of betraying your whereabouts to the French gendarmes." "Balstain?" "Yes, Balstain; and he is hunting for you now. That is not all.
"But," continued Balstain, "what else could one expect from a vile knave like Chupin? Everyone knows that he has been obliged to flee from France a dozen times on account of his crimes. Where did you take refuge when you crossed the frontier, Chupin? In my house, in the inn kept by honest Balstain. You were fed and protected there.
The fugitives went to the nearest house after crossing the frontier. It was a lonely inn, about a league from the little village of Saint-Jean-de-Coche, and was kept by a man named Balstain. They rapped, in spite of the lateness of the hour it was past midnight. They were admitted, and they ordered supper.
Transported with anger, he pushed Balstain violently aside, crying to the soldiers: "Come are we going to spend the night here?" An implacable hatred gleamed in the eye of the Piedmontese. He drew his knife from his pocket, and making the sign of the cross in the air: "Saint-Jean-de-Coche," he exclaimed, in a ringing voice, "and you, Holy Virgin, hear my vow.
The report added that: "Said Chupin had been himself assassinated, soon after his crime, by a certain Balstain, whose whereabouts were unknown." But this affair interested the community much less than the visits which Martial was paying to Mme. Blanche.
He spoke with extraordinary vehemence and volubility, beside himself with fear lest he was about to lose his reward, and lest his treason would bring him nothing save disgrace and obloquy. "If you have any right to the reward, you must prove it before the proper authorities," said the officer in command. "If I have any right!" interrupted Balstain; "who contests my right, then?"
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