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Updated: May 11, 2025
They were audible intermittently, but connectedly enough, as though their owners waited from time to time for a lull in the gusty wind before they spoke. "Hold the lantern here. Why, it's past seven! He ought to be here by now." "We 've searched every inch of the ground." "That's Paul de Roustache," whispered the Captain. "Perhaps he 's lying down out of the storm somewhere. Shall we shout?"
The sound of a whip rang clear; the clatter of hoofs and the grind of a wheel on the skid followed. A carriage dashed down the hill from Sasellano. Paul de Roustache had seen it, and stooped low for a moment in instinctive fear of being seen. Captain Dieppe, on the other hand, cried "Bravo!" and began to walk briskly towards the ford. "How very lucky!" he reflected.
It was the heavy, swishing noise of a deep body of water in rapid movement. His eyes flew down to the river. "By God!" he muttered under his breath; and from the river his glance darted to Paul de Roustache. The landlord of the inn at Sasellano had not spoken without warrant. The stream ran high in flood, and Paul de Roustache stood motionless in fear and doubt on the threshold of the ford.
They have won the big stake; let them be content. And again let me remind you that Paul de Roustache has your twenty thousand francs. I don't think you 'll get them from him, but you might. From me you 'll get nothing; and if you try the law oh, think, my friend, how very silly you and your Government will look!"
The Captain stood and looked up, and Monsieur Guillaume, who had overheard his little soliloquy and discovered from it a fact of great interest to himself, seized the opportunity of rising from behind his bush and stealing off down the hill after Paul de Roustache. "Ah," thought the Captain, as he gazed at the window, "if there were no such thing as honour or loyalty, as friendship "
In the distress of these thoughts he forgot his victories: how he had disposed of Paul de Roustache, how he had defeated M. Guillaume, how his precious papers were safe, and even how the Countess was freed from all her fears. It was her misery he thought of now, not her fears. For she loved him. And in his inmost heart he knew that he must leave her.
His keen ear had caught a footstep on the road, although darkness and mist prevented him from seeing who approached. It was barely six. Was Paul de Roustache an hour too early? "What is it?" she asked in a low, anxious voice. "Is anybody coming? Oh, if it should be Andrea!" "It's not the Count, but Come down into the hut, madame. You must n't be seen." Now she obeyed his request.
"There 's a flood in the river, and I have crossed it twice." "What did you cross the river for?" "I had to escort M. de Roustache across, and he 's a bad swimmer. He jumped in, and " "You saved his life?" "Don't reproach me, my friend. It is an instinct; and er he carried the pocket-book of our friend outside; and the pocket-book had my money in it, you know." "Your money?
They passed Paul de Roustache, who had no thought but to avoid them, and, once they were passed, took to the road and made off straight for Sasellano; they reached the descent and trotted gaily down it; they came within ten yards of the ford, and drew up sharply. The lady put her head out; the driver dismounted and took a look at the river. Shaking his head, he came to the window.
The faintest smile flitted for an instant across her face. "Oh, no, Andrea does n't forgive like that. His forgiveness is very well, horribly biblical, you know. Oh, I 'd better not have gone to Rome at all!" "I never saw any good in your going to Rome, you know." "Yes, I must tell him everything. Because Paul de Roustache is sure to come and "
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