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Updated: June 15, 2025
"Marie-Anne marry Chanlouineau!" he repeated; "it is impossible! it is impossible!" The Reche, literally translated the "Waste," where Marie-Anne had promised to meet Maurice, owed its name to the rebellious and sterile character of the soil. Nature seemed to have laid her curse upon it. Nothing would grow there.
M. de Sairmeuse gave utterance to a little disdainful laugh. "Ah, gentlemen!" he said, addressing the commissioners, "can you not see that the prisoner's courage does not equal his depravity? But I will confound him. What did you do, prisoner, when the insurgents left the Reche?" "I returned to my home with all possible haste, took a horse and repaired to the Croix d'Arcy."
Continue your deposition, witness." "The accused," continued Chupin, "was present at all the conferences held at Lacheneur's house. The proof of this is as clear as daylight. Being obliged to cross the Oiselle to reach the Reche, and fearing the ferryman would notice his frequent nocturnal voyages, the baron had an old boat repaired which he had not used for years."
Mme. d'Escorval was obliged to exert all her authority to make him take some nourishment. He had quite forgotten that he had passed twenty-four hours without eating. When eleven o'clock sounded he left the house. The lands of the Reche are situated on the other side of the Oiselle. Maurice, to reach his destination, was obliged to cross the river at a ferry only a short distance from his home.
It was the first time that he had ever had a secret from the faithful and courageous companion of his existence. Without warning her, he went to beg Abbe Midon to follow him to the Reche, to the house of M. Lacheneur. The silence, on his part, explains Mme. d'Escorval's astonishment when, on the arrival of the dinner-hour, neither her son nor her husband appeared.
He seated himself upon a high rock, from which he could survey the entire Reche, and waited. The day was magnificent; the air intensely hot. The rays of the August sun fell with scorching violence upon the sandy soil, and withered the few plants which had sprung up since the last rain. The stillness was profound, almost terrible.
"By sending some soldiers to the Reche, with orders to conceal themselves in the grove with orders to arrest these murderers at the proper moment." The marquis gravely shook his head. "If I do that," said he, "Martial is quite capable " "Of anything! yes, I know it. But what does it matter to you, since I am willing to assume the responsibility?"
"You heard, father," continued Blanche, "the rendezvous appointed to-morrow, at mid-day, on the Reche. I know Martial; he has been insulted, and he will go there. Will he encounter a loyal adversary? No. He will find a crowd of assassins. You alone can prevent him from being assassinated." "I! and how?"
Then he confided to his father all that had taken place in the grove on the Reche. The slightest detail of the scene had engraved itself indelibly upon his memory. When the recital was ended: "Are you quite sure," asked his father, "that you correctly understood Marie-Anne's reply? Did she tell you that if her father gave his consent to your marriage, she would refuse hers?"
The next day they heard of the meeting at the Reche. A peasant who, from a distance, had witnessed the preliminaries of the duel which had not been fought, was able to give them the fullest details. He had seen the two adversaries take their places, then the soldiers run to the spot, and afterward pursue Maurice, Jean and Bavois. But he was sure that the soldiers had not overtaken them.
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