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Updated: May 17, 2025
Without definite purpose, the patroon, who had listened with scant attention to the poet, began to move slowly toward the actress, and at that moment, the eyes of the soldier, turning to the saddling paddock, where the horses were being led out, fell upon the figure drawing near, recognizing in him the heir to the manor, Edward Mauville.
"Is he dead?" she asked quickly, unable to withdraw her glance from the immovable figure, stretched out in the dim light on the path. "No fear!" said Mauville, quietly, almost thoughtfully, although his eyes were yet bright from the encounter. "You can't kill his kind," he added, contemptuously. "Brutes from coal barges, or raftsmen from the head waters!
At first, astonished, doubting, she did not speak, then her lips moved mechanically. "That is not the land baron," she cried, staring at him in disappointment that knew no language. "The woman is right," added a masquerader. "I know Mauville, too, for he told me to go to the devil when I asked him to wait for his rent."
In the old days they were tinder; women sparks. But who is she?" "You mean Susan Duran, the actress?" "An actress!" exclaimed the nobleman. "A charming creature at any rate!" "All froth; a bubble!" added Mauville impatiently. "How entertaining! Any lovers?" leered the nobleman. "A dozen; a baker's dozen, for all I know!" "What is her history?" said the marquis eagerly. "I never inquired."
"How did he deviate from the line of duty?" asked Mauville, with increasing interest, and an eagerness his light manner did not disguise. "A sin of omission or commission?" "Eh? What?" mumbled the old nobleman, staring at his questioner, and, on a sudden, becoming taciturn. "A family affair!" he added finally, with dignity. "Not worth repeating! But what was he doing there?"
"Come, come!" interrupted the officer in command of the execution party; "time is up. As I was told not to fasten your hands, you shall have your wish. Confess now, that is accommodating?" "Thanks," returned Mauville carelessly, relapsing into his old manner. "You are an obliging fellow! I would do as much for you." "Not much danger of that," growled the other.
"How did you hear about it?" asked Mauville, irritably. "Oh, in a roundabout way. Murder will out! And Constance she was so solicitous about Mr. Saint-Prosper, but rather proud, I believe, because he" with a laugh "came off victorious."
In surveying his surroundings, the land baron's attention was attracted by a coat-of-arms deeply carved in the massive wood of the book-case on a saltire sable, a fleur-de-lys or. This head of heraldic flowers appeared to interest Mauville, who smiled grimly.
Mauville was breathing heavily from his exertions, but the appearance of both men, the supple movements of the one contrasting with the perfect precision of the other, would have delighted those members of the count's society, who regarded these matches as leading to a renaissance of chivalry.
A musty smell pervaded the apartment, for Mynheer, the Patroon, had lived so closely to himself that he had shut out both air and sunlight from his rooms. The flickering glare fell upon the young actress standing, hand upon her heart, listening with bated breath, and Mauville, with ominous expression, brooding over that chance which sent the lease-holders to the manor on that night of nights.
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