United States or Dominica ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
For a moment or two he stood bewildered. There was no drawbridge to this eccentric moat; there was, on this side of the rock at least, not so little as a boat; if Lamond ever held intercourse with the adjacent isle of Scotland he must seemingly swim. Very well; the Count de Montaiglon, guilty of many outrages against his ancestry to-day, must swim too if that were called for.
"Clancarty has doubtless often sought me vainly for the trivial coin: some butterflies in the coulisse of the playhouse will have missed my pouncet-box; but I swear there are few in Paris who would be inconsolable if Victor de Montaiglon never set foot on the trottoir again.
There he kept it with his breath subdued, and the alarum severely quelled. An owl's call sounded on the shore, extremely pensive in its note, and natural, but unusual in the rhythm of its repetition. It might have passed for the veritable call of the woods to an unsuspicious ear, but Montaiglon knew it for a human signal.
To-morrow to-morrow M. de Montaiglon to-morrow you make your reluctant adieux to Doom and its inexplicable owner, whose surprise and innuendo are altogether too exciting for your good health."
I lived for months one time in the Hôtel de Transylvania, Rue Condé, and kept my carosse de remise, and gambled like every other ass of my kind in Paris till I had not a louis to my credit. Lord! the old days, the old days! I should be penitent, I daresay, M. Montaiglon, but I'm putting that off till I find that a sober life has compensations for the entertainment of a life of liberty."
It it hadnae been for the want o' a half inch or thereby in the height o' my heels " here he stood upon his toes "I wad hae been in the airmy mysel'. It's the only employ for a man o' spunk, and there's spunk in Mungo Boyd, mind I'm tellin' ye!" "It is the most obvious thing in the world, good Mungo," said Montaiglon, smiling. "You eviscerate fish with the gusto of a gladiator."
But it will not do for you to go down there without some introduction. I shall have to speak of your coming to some folk and see if it is a good time." "Eh bien! Remember at all events that I am in affairs," said Montaiglon, and the thing was settled. It was only at the dawn, or the gloaming, or in night itself and above all in the night that the castle of Doom had its tragic aspect.
"What, man!" he cried at last, shaking with his merriment, "is our ancient Jules from Oporto to be ousted with the aid of Sim MacTaggart from the ducal cellars in favour of one Montaiglon?" He stopped, caught his Chamberlain by the arm, and stood close in an endeavour to perceive his countenance. "Sim," said he, "I wonder what Modene would say to find his cousin hawking vile claret round Argyll.
The man has not the soul of a louse, and as for her, she's the finest gold! You would see that I was the cause of her swoon?" "Unhappy creature!" said Montaiglon, beginning to fear he had wronged this good gentleman. "You may well say it, M. Montaiglon.
In spite of his assumed indifference and the purely casual nature of his comment upon the night, there was a good deal of cunning, thought Montaiglon, in the beady eyes of him, but the stranger only smiled at the ease of those Scots domestic manners. "I did very well, I thank you," said he.
Word Of The Day