Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 22, 2025
Lacheneur had been reared like other poor peasant girls; that is to say, on the day of her marriage it was only with great difficulty she succeeded in inscribing her name upon the register.
The wagons bearing the furniture and clothing belonging to M. Lacheneur were coming. This noise Martial must have heard within the house, for he came out, and after him came M. Lacheneur, Jean, Chanlouineau, and Marie-Anne.
The silence of nearly a moment which followed was as threatening as the profound calm which precedes the storm. Martial was the first to break it. "A peasant's directions are not generally remarkable for their clearness," he said, lightly; "and for more than an hour I have been seeking the house to which Monsieur Lacheneur has retired." "Ah!" "I am sent to him by the Duc de Sairmeuse, my father."
"Lacheneur is lost if this man discovers his retreat," murmured the priest. "Fortunately, he must have crossed the frontier before this," replied Maurice. "A hundred to one he is beyond reach." "And if you should be mistaken. What, if wounded and faint from loss of blood, Lacheneur has had only strength to drag himself to the nearest house and ask the hospitality of its inmates?"
He sank back in his chair, overwhelmed with sorrow and remorse, and silent tears rolled slowly down his cheeks. "He is saved!" thought the abbe, whose heart bled at the sight of such despair. Suddenly someone plucked him by the sleeve. It was Jean Lacheneur, and he drew the priest into the embrasure of a window. "What is this about a child?" he asked, harshly.
Two officers belonging to the Montaignac militia, on returning from their expedition this morning at daybreak, on passing the Croix d'Arcy, found a man, clad in the uniform of the Emperor's body-guard, lying dead in the fosse." Maurice shuddered. The unfortunate man, he could not doubt, was the brave old soldier who had spoken to Lacheneur.
She became unconscious, and all the efforts of Maurice and of the priest had failed to restore her. But Mme. d'Escorval did not recognize Mlle. Lacheneur in the masculine habiliments in which she was clothed. She only saw that it was not her husband whom they had brought with them; and a convulsive shudder shook her from head to foot.
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.
So strong was this suspicion that he hastened after her, determined to question her to ascertain the truth to arrest her, if necessary. But he no longer possessed the agility of youth, and when he reached the gateway the guard told him that Mlle. Lacheneur had already passed out. He rushed out after her, looked about on every side, but could see no trace of her.
The priest motioned him to be silent; but he did not see him, and he pursued: "My father was ignorant even of the existence of this conspiracy of which Monsieur Lacheneur was the guiding spirit; but I knew it I wished him to succeed, because on his success depended the happiness of my life.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking