Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 20, 2025
He must be hiding in the gardens." Gonzague commanded, sharply: "Bid your men seek till they find, and kill when they find." Peyrolles bowed. "Yes, your excellency," he said, and disappeared down one of the silent alleys. As he departed, the hunchback emerged from the shadow of a tree and approached Gonzague noiselessly.
Peyrolles frowned, but there was no help for it; so he rose to his feet, untroubled this time by the restraining fingers of Passepoil, and, going to the table, wrote the demanded document, with every appearance of repugnance at the task and its conditions, for the pen was vile, the ink viler, and the paper vilest. When he had finished, Cocardasse took it from him and scanned it carefully.
Peyrolles gave a jerk of his head in the direction of Gonzague, and answered: "He in black with the star." In a moment Flora had retired within the caravan, and emerged again with a pair of castanets in her hands. She advanced to Gonzague and made him a reverence. "Shall I dance for you, pretty gentleman?" she asked.
"By all means," Gonzague answered, and, turning to Peyrolles, he said: "They are in the antechamber; bring them in." Peyrolles turned to obey, when the hunchback delayed him with a gesture. "Your pardon, highness," he said; "but I think there is another service I can render you to-day." "Another service?" Gonzague repeated, looking at the hunchback with some surprise.
The sense of what he had sacrificed in making the journey seemed suddenly to gall him, for he glared ferociously at Peyrolles, and said, sharply: "Here have I been talking myself dry while you sit mumchance. Tell me some tale for a change. Why in the name of the ancient devil did Nevers's widow marry Gonzague?" Peyrolles laughed feebly. "Love, I suppose." Æsop waved the suggestion away.
Involuntarily Lagardere echoed the last words, "I am here," and added, "The motto of Nevers." There was annoyance in the well-bred voice as it questioned, sharply: "What do you know of Nevers?" Peyrolles respectfully answered for the sham Saldagno: "Monseigneur, they all know whom they are to meet. How they know I cannot tell, but they do know. But they are to be trusted."
Flora laughed again, and answered, unhesitatingly: "To dance my way through the world, to enjoy myself as much as I can in the sunshine, to please pretty gentlemen, to have money to spend, to wear fine clothes and do nice things and enjoy myself, to laugh often and cry little. That is my fortune, I hope." Peyrolles shook his head and looked very wise. "Perhaps I can tell you a better fortune."
"When it is a matter of our skins," he said, "I think we have a right to be inquisitive, and I think we had better have a little chat, Monsieur Peyrolles." As he spoke he made a noble flourish of his right arm that was distinctly an invitation to Peyrolles to seat himself in their company, and Passepoil, rising with an air of great urbanity, placed a stool before Peyrolles.
In a few moments Peyrolles returned to the room escorting Flora, now very beautifully attired in a dress of simple richness. Chavernay could not restrain his surprise as she entered. "The little dancing-girl," he whispered to his right-hand neighbor, Choisy, but he said no more. Even his airy nature was impressed by the stillness of the company and the gravity of the situation.
Flora was impressed by the manner of the grand gentleman, for to her he seemed a grand gentleman. "Tell me, quick!" she entreated. Peyrolles condescended to explain: "Seventeen years ago a girl of noble birth, one year old, was stolen from her mother and given to gypsies." Flora, listening, counted on her fingers: "Seventeen, one, eighteen why, just my age." Peyrolles approved.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking