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Updated: July 5, 2025
M. de Sairmeuse and his son exchanged a glance of consternation. Was this a comedy that had been prepared for their benefit? Evidently not, since their arrival had not been expected. But the priest, whose character had been so plainly revealed by this quarrel with his domestic, was not a man to their taste.
The duke was in full uniform, his face a little more crimson, and his air a trifle more haughty than usual. "The session is open!" pronounced the Duc de Sairmeuse, the president. Then, in a rough voice, he added: "Bring in the culprits." He had not even the grace to say "the accused."
Then you will separate and pretend to conceal yourselves, but do it in such a way that you are seen everywhere." All present comprehended the priest's simple plan. They were to throw the emissaries sent by the Duc de Sairmeuse and the Marquis de Courtornieu off the track; and at the very moment it was apparently proven that the baron was in the mountains, he would be safe in Poignot's house.
Had the much-lamented chicken constituted the dinner the rations would have been "short." This the worthy woman was obliged to confess, on seeing the terrible appetite evinced by M. de Sairmeuse and his son. "One would have sworn that they had eaten nothing for a fortnight," she told her friends, the next day.
He did not seem to notice it, however. "It was loaned me," he continued, "in order that I might bring some great news here the quicker." Fear resumed possession of the peasantry. "Is the enemy in the city?" anxiously inquired some of the more timid. "Yes; but not the enemy you refer to. This is the former lord of the manor, the Duc de Sairmeuse." "Ah! they said he was dead." "They were mistaken."
The agent, whom he had sent to Paris in advance, to purchase, if possible, the Hotel de Sairmeuse, had written him to make all possible haste, as there was some difficulty about concluding the bargain. "Plague take the fellow!" said the marquis, angrily, on receiving this news. "He is quite stupid enough to let this opportunity, for which we have been waiting ten years, slip through his fingers.
"You would! Very well; do me the favor to question Chupin." It was only two weeks since the Duc de Sairmeuse had returned to France; he had not yet had time to shake the dust of exile from his feet, and already his imagination saw enemies on every side. He had been at Sairmeuse only two days, and yet he unhesitatingly accepted the venomous reports which Chupin poured into his ears.
When the carriage passed through the village of Sairmeuse, Mlle. Blanche noticed an unwonted animation. There were lights in every house, the saloons seemed full of drinkers, and groups of people were standing upon the public square and upon the doorsteps. But what did this matter to Mlle. de Courtornieu! It was not until they were a mile or so from Sairmeuse that she was startled from her revery.
But the lawyers persevered even while they realized the utter uselessness of their efforts. But what could they do under such circumstances? The defence of these twenty-nine prisoners lasted only one hour and a half. Before the last word was fairly uttered, the Duc de Sairmeuse gave a sigh of relief, and in a tone which betrayed his delight, said: "Prisoner Escorval, stand up."
A man had just appeared around a turn of the road leading to Sairmeuse. He was advancing bareheaded in the middle of the dusty road, with hurried strides, and occasionally brandishing his stick, as if threatening an enemy visible to himself alone. Soon they were able to distinguish his features. "It is Chanlouineau!" exclaimed M. Lacheneur. "The owner of the vineyards on the Borderie?" "The same!
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