United States or India ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"Monsieur Fanfar," said Irène, "you are right, and I thank you." Then, turning to Gudel, she asked him with bewitching grace to retain two seats for her. "Certainly, and the best. Will we not, Fanfar?" The young man met Irène's eyes, and started. "Will you give these few louis to the poor?" added Irène, "and I will accept two seats gratefully."
"And you, Bobichel?" "Don't be troubled about me!" "Hark!" cried Fanfar. They listened, and heard distinctly the tread of horses in the distance. "The police!" said Bobichel. "They have lost no time, at all events!" And Gudel laughed. "But we have the advantage, and I know a cross-road which will cut off a good bit."
Gudel came forward. "We were waiting for you before we began. But you are alone!" "My governess will be here in a moment." "She has come!" said Caillette, turning pale and looking up at Fanfar, who was arranging an iron chain, and did not seem to have heard. And the clown continued to say; "Come in, gentlemen, come in!"
Nevertheless, the man behind the newspaper, who had not lost a word of this dialogue, smiled until he showed every tooth in his head. The giantess and Robeccal left the room together. After a few words together, Robeccal returned, and asked Gudel if he wanted him again, and when his employer said no, that he was at liberty, he once more left the room.
Gudel lighted a lantern, and then said to Irène that he was ready. They went out into a corridor, and Gudel, taking a key from his pocket, opened a small door which showed stone steps going down. "Be careful," said Iron Jaws, "for the steps are very slippery." He held the lantern high and guided her steps. It was like a gnome guiding a fairy into some mine of wealth.
With difficulty he curbed his impatience; it showed in his voice and his eyes. Gudel suspected nothing. "A poor orphan, then?" asked the Marquis, in the most honeyed tones, "entrusted to your care by a dying father?" "No, sir, I found Fanfar." "Pray tell me how and where? I am greatly interested in this young man." "It is a simple story, sir.
We do not doubt you nor him, but for such work as ours of which the aim is to return to France that liberty which has been stifled by the iron hand of Bonaparte and by the Bourbons we need men who are ready to sacrifice their lives to walk straight on, even if the scaffold stands at the termination of their road. Is Fanfar such a man?" "I am not much of a speaker," answered Gudel.
Instead of poison, Fanfar took a narcotic, and lies as if dead. He will be buried, of course, but we will look out for that, and he will be taken care of." The shock to Irène was so great that she burst into passionate weeping. Gudel was doing his best to soothe her, when suddenly the door was thrown open and Bobichel rushed in, all pale and dishevelled. "Oh! master," he cried, "all is lost!
La Roulante sat as motionless as the Sphynx in the Desert. Gudel said to her, respectfully: "Are you coming?" The woman turned her eyes slowly upon him, and then, with a sniff of disdain, called for Robeccal, who heard the stentorian shout, but did not care to be disturbed in his contemplation of the spit on which the fowls were roasting.
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.
Word Of The Day