United States or Kuwait ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
La Roulante uttered a cry as they reached the house, for the door was open. She ran into the house, and flew toward the stairs. Fanfar was behind her. She beheld the window open. "Look!" she cried, "he has taken her away!" "Of whom do you speak?" "Of the Vicomte de Talizac." "Talizac!" exclaimed Fanfar, "would that I could kill that man!" The house was searched, and found entirely deserted.
"Fanfar," said Gudel, "when one accepts a mission like ours his life no longer belongs to himself. We must fly, and at once!" "But how?" "We will take the horses that belong to the chariot." "And do you forget me, father?" asked Caillette. "No I confide you to Bobichel." "Oh! Fanfar, do not leave me!" sobbed the young girl. "Dear child, there are great dangers to run!"
On the lower floor he found Irène waiting; she was pale and dressed in black. "Ah! sir," she said, anxiety sharpening her voice, "tell me what all this means!" "Fanfar is not dead." The girl swayed to and fro. Gudel caught her, and went on. "No, he is not dead. I thought you ought to know it." "Where is he?"
Fanfar was an artist, his playing was wonderful. The music became faster and faster, and Caillette's little feet seemed hardly to touch the rope, they twinkled like stars, while Fanfar's bow looked only like a silver thread. He dropped the violin, and Caillette leaped into his arms. As she touched the ground, she threw at Irène a glance of laughing triumph. Then came Robeccal's turn.
And presently Fanfar and Gudel stood side by side. "Now, gentlemen, it is your turn," said Fanfar. "No! it is my turn!" shouted Cyprien, taking a pistol from his pocket and firing. The ball broke a slate which fell into the street. As to Gudel and Fanfar, they were far away and a high chimney hid them from view.
The clock struck half-past eleven, and no Monte-Cristo. Must they then lay in the grave the mortal remains of the son of Monte-Cristo without a farewell kiss on the pale brow from his father? They felt as if it were another wrong of which they would be guilty toward this unhappy father. Fanfar was buried in thought. He saw Esperance, when almost a child he defied the Arabs.
"To all who love Fanfar: "Repair at once to Havre. Go to the cottage of the fisherman Pierre. Wait! Hope!" Similar instructions had been sent to Arthur, but to the questions addressed to him by these four ladies, he could only say that he knew no more than they. "We must wait," he said. "But Gudel?" asked Caillette. "Where is he?"
"I hope he will get to the inn in safety," said Fanfar, anxiously. "I must get back on foot, it seems!" Gudel had been carried to his room, the innkeeper moaning over and over again, "How could this have happened?" La Roulante established herself by the sick bed. She was livid with fear. The attempt had been a failure, and Bobichel had guessed it!
While Fongereues, crushed under the weight of his remorse, was thus announcing his last wishes, another scene was taking place in the hospital. Gudel and Bobichel had applied for Fanfar's body. "Too late!" answered the concierge. And the two men heard with consternation that Fanfar had been taken away. And where? No one knew. Delay was inevitable.
And this was Fanfar." "Did you make any search for his parents?" "How could I! The Cossacks were at my heels, and there was fire and blood everywhere." "But later on?" "The child was sick for a long time, entirely out of his head, and when he began to recover we feared that his brain was hopelessly affected.
Word Of The Day