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"To keep watch at the beauffet, with thy loaded weapon," said Louis; "and if there is treason, to shoot the traitor." "Treason, Sire! and in this guarded castle!" exclaimed Durward. "You think it impossible," said the King, not offended, it would seem, by his frankness; "but our history has shown that treason can creep into an auger hole. Treason excluded by guards!
"I have little more to tell," said Durward, "except that, considering my poor mother to be in some degree a pledge for me, I was induced to take upon me the dress of a novice, and conformed to the cloister rules, and even learned to read and write."
"And as," he said, "the scraper of chins hath no great love for the stretcher of throats, he has joined me in obtaining from the King an order, commanding the Provost to suspend all proceedings, under whatever pretence, against Quentin Durward; and to respect, on all occasions, the privileges of the Scottish guard."
Looking up, Durward saw before him a young man in whose style of dress and freckled face we at once recognize Joel Slocum. Wearying of Cincinnati, as he had before done with Lexington, he had traveled at last to Virginia. Remembering to have heard that his grandmother's aunt had married, died, and left a daughter in Richmond, he determined, if possible, to find some trace of her.
She remembered the time when she had thought her uncle's furniture splendid beyond anything in the world, but it could not compare with the magnificence around her, and for a few moments she stood as if transfixed with astonishment. Durward had been highly amused at her enthusiastic remarks concerning the grounds, and now noticing her silence, he asked "what was the matter?"
It was in vain that Aunt Betsey plead, persuaded, and threatened, and at last in despair Durward was called in to try his powers of persuasion. "That's something more like it," said 'Lena, and when he urged upon her the necessity of her removal, she asked, "Will you go with me?" "Certainly," said he. "And stay with me?" "Certainly."
Louis, having thus, in legal phrase, added a refreshing fee to his general retainer, turned from him to address Durward. "Follow me," he said, "my bonny Scot, as one chosen by Destiny and a Monarch to accomplish a bold adventure. All must be got ready, that thou mayest put foot in stirrup the very instant the bell of Saint Martin's tolls twelve.
"Then, if you think I'm like him," said Durward gently, "will you let me try to take his place a little? I mean," he explained hastily, fearing she might misunderstand him, "that you will miss his guardianship and care of you, as well as the good pal you found in him.
Durward is coming, because " "Who did you say?" broke in Garth, pausing in his stride. "Mrs. Durward Tim's mother, you know," she explained. She had confided to him the history of her brief engagement to Tim. Trent resumed his walk, but more slowly; the buoyancy seemed suddenly gone out of his step.
To the second division belong stories equally well known, many of them impressive: "The Monastery," "Kenilworth," "Quentin Durward," and "Red Gauntlet" among them, but as a whole marking a falling off of power as increasing years and killing cares made what was at first hardly more than a sportive effort, a burden under which a man, at last broken, staggered toward the desired goal.
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