it was early in the afternoon when monsieur perrot, with his daughter behind him on a pillion, and his servant riding a short distance in the rear, rode under the gateway of parthenay. a party of soldiers were at the gateway, and a gendarmerie officer stood near. the latter glanced carelessly at the passport which the merchant showed him, and the travellers rode on.
"peste!" one of the soldiers said; "what is monsieur the marquis de pignerolles doing here, riding about dressed as a bourgeois, with a young woman at his back?"
"which is the marquis de pignerolles?" one of the others said.
"he who has just ridden by. he was colonel of my regiment, and i know him as well as i do you."
"it can't be him, pierre. i saw louis godier yesterday, he has come home on leave--he belongs to this town, you know--wounded at lille. he was telling me about the siege, and he said that the marquis was taken prisoner by the english."
"prisoner or not prisoner," the other said obstinately, "that is the marquis. why, man, do you think one could be mistaken in his own colonel?--a good officer, too; rather strict perhaps, but a good soldier, and a lion to fight."
the gendarme moved quietly away, and repeated what he had heard to his captain.
"the marquis de pignerolles, travelling under the name of monsieur perrot, silk merchant of nantes, with a young lady behind him," the officer exclaimed. "while he is supposed to be a prisoner in england? this must be his daughter, for whom we made such a search two years ago, and who has been on our lists ever since.
"this is important, andre. i will go at once to the prefecture, and obtain an order for their arrest. they will be sure to have put up at the fleur de lys, it is the only hostelry where they could find decent accommodation. go at once, and keep an eye on them. there is no great hurry, for they will not think of going further today, and the prefect will be at dinner just at present, and hates being disturbed."
the marquis and adele were standing over a blazing fire of logs in the best room of the fleur de lys, when rupert, who was looking out of the casemented window, said:
"monsieur le marquis, i do not want to alarm you unnecessarily, but there is a gendarme on the other side of the street watching this house. he was standing by a group of soldiers at the gate when we rode through. i happened to notice him particularly.
"he is walking slowly backwards and forwards. i saw him when i was at the door a quarter of an hour ago, and he is there still, and just now i saw him glance up at these windows. he is watching us. that is why i made an excuse to come up here to ask you about the horses."
"are you sure, rupert?"
"quite sure," rupert said, gravely.
"then there is no doubt about it," the marquis said; "for i know that you would not alarm us unnecessarily. what do you advise?"
"i will go down," rupert said, "and put the saddles on quietly. the stable opens into the street behind. there is a flight of stairs at the end of the long passage here, which leads down into a passage below, at the end of which is a door into the stable yard. i have just been examining it. i should recommend adele to put on her things, and to be in readiness, and then to remain in her room. if you keep a watch here, you will see everyone coming down the street, and the moment you see an officer approaching, if you will lock the door outside and take the key with you, then call adele, and come down the back stairs with her into the yard, i will have the horses in readiness. there is only one man in the stable. a crown piece will make him shut his eyes as we ride out, and they will be five minutes at the door before they find that we have gone."
the marquis at once agreed to the plan, and rupert went down into the stable yard, and began to resaddle the horses.
"what, off again?" the ostler said.
"yes," rupert answered. "between you and i, my master has just seen a creditor to whom he owes a heavy bill, and he wants to slip away quietly. here is a crown for yourself, to keep your tongue between your teeth.
"now lend me a hand with these saddles, and help bring them out quickly when i give the word."
the horses resaddled and turned in their stables ready to be brought out without a moment's delay, rupert took his place at the entrance, and watched the door leading from the hotel. in ten minutes it opened, and the marquis, followed by adele, came out.
"quick with that horse," rupert said to the ostler; and seeing to the other, they were in the yard as soon as the marquis came up.
"an officer and eight men," he whispered to rupert as he leapt into the saddle, while rupert lifted adele on to the pillion.
"mounted?"
"no."
"then we have a good half-hour's start.
"which is the way to the west gate?"
"straight on, till you reach the wall; follow that to the right, it will bring you to the gate."
rupert vaulted into his saddle, and the party rode out into the street; and then briskly, but without any appearance of extraordinary haste, until they reached the gate.
the guardian of the gate was sitting on a low block of wood at the door of the guardroom. there was, rupert saw, no soldier about. indeed, the place was quiet, for the evening was falling, and but few people cared to be about in those times after nightfall.
an idea flashed across rupert's mind, and he rode up to the marquis:
"please lead my horse," he said. "wait for me a hundred yards on. i will be with you in three minutes."
without waiting for an answer, he leapt from his horse, threw the reins to the marquis, and ran back to the gate, which was but thirty yards back.
"a word with you, good man," he said, going straight into the guardroom.
"hullo!" the man said, getting up and following him in. "and who may you be, i should like to know, who makes so free?"
rupert, without a word, sprang upon the man and bore him to the ground. then, seeing that there was an inner room, he lifted him, and ran him in there, the man being too astonished to offer the slightest resistance. then rupert locked him in, and taking down the great key of the gate, which hung over the fireplace, went out, closed the great gate of the town, locked it on the outside, and threw the key into the moat. then he went off at a run and joined the marquis, who with adele was waiting anxiously at the distance he had asked him.
"what have you been doing, rupert?"
"i have just locked the great gate and thrown the key into the moat," rupert said. "the gate is a solid one, and they will not get it open tonight. if they are to pursue us, they must go round to one of the other gates, and then make a circuit to get into this road again. i have locked the porter up, and i don't suppose they will find it out till they ride up, half an hour hence. they will try for another quarter of an hour to open the gate, and it will be another good half-hour's ride to get round by the road, so we have over one hour's start."
"capital, indeed," the marquis said, as they galloped forward. "the dangers you have gone through have made you quick witted indeed, rupert.
"i see you have changed saddles."
"yes, your horse had been carrying double all day, so i thought it better to give a turn to the other. it is fortunate that we have been making short journeys each day, and that our horses are comparatively fresh."
"why did you come out by the west gate, rupert? the north was our way."
"yes, our direct way," rupert said; "but i was thinking it over while waiting for you. you see with the start we have got and good horses, we might have kept ahead of them for a day; but with one horse carrying double, there is no chance of us doing so for eighty miles. we must hide up somewhere to let the horses rest. they would make sure that we were going to take ship, and would be certain to send on straight to nantes, so that we should be arrested when we arrive there.
"as it is we can follow this road for thirty miles, as if going to la rochelle, and then strike up for a forty miles ride across to nantes."
"well thought of, indeed," monsieur de pignerolles said.
"adele, this future lord and master of yours is as long headed as he is long limbed."
adele laughed happily. the excitement, and the fresh air and the brisk pace, had raised her spirits; and with her father and lover to protect her, she had no fear of the danger that threatened them.
"with a ten miles start they ought not to overtake us till morning, rupert."
"no," rupert said, "supposing that we could keep on, but we cannot. the horses have done twenty-five miles today. they have had an hour and a half's rest, but we must not do more than as much farther, or we shall run the risk of knocking them up."
so they rode on at a fast trot for three hours.
"here is a little road to the right," rupert said. "let us ride up there, and stop at the first house we come to."
it was a mere byroad, and as once out of the main road they were for the present safe from pursuit, they now suffered the horses to break into a walk. it was not until two miles had been passed that they came to a small farmhouse. rupert dismounted and knocked at the door.
"who is there?" a voice shouted within.
"travellers, who want shelter and are ready to pay well for it."
"no, no," the voice said. "no travellers come along here, much less at this time of night. keep away. we are armed, i and my son, and it will be worse for you if you do not leave us alone."
"look here, good man, we are what i say," rupert said. "open an upstairs casement and show a light, and you will see that we have a lady with us. we are but two men. look out, i say. we will pay you well. we need shelter for the lady."
there was more talking within, and then a heavy step was heard ascending the stairs. then a light appeared in an upper room. the casement opened and a long gun was first thrust out, then a face appeared.
the night was not a very dark one, and he was able to see the form of the horse, and of a rider with a female figure behind him. so far assured, he brought a light and again looked out. the inspection was satisfactory, for he said:
"i will open the door directly."
soon adele was sitting before a fire bright with logs freshly thrown on. the horses, still saddled, were placed in a shed with an ample allowance of food. one of the sons, upon the promise of a handsome reward, started to go a mile down the road, with instructions to discharge his gun if he heard horsemen coming up it.
in a quarter of an hour adele, thoroughly fatigued with her day's exertions, went to lie down on the bed ordinarily used by the farmer's daughter. the marquis wrapped himself in his cloak and lay down in front of the fire, while rupert took the first watch outside.
the night passed quietly, and at daybreak the next morning the party were again in their saddles. their intention was to ride by cross lanes parallel to the main road, and to come into that road again when they felt sure they were ahead of their pursuers, who, with riding nearly all night, would be certain to come to the conclusion that they were ahead of the fugitives, and would begin to search for some signs of where they had left the road.
they instructed their hosts to make no secret of their having been there, but to tell the exact truth as to their time of arrival and departure, and to say that from their conversation they were going south to la rochelle.
the windings of the country roads that they traversed added greatly to the length of the journey, and the marquis proposed that they should strike at once across it for nantes. rupert, however, begged him to continue the line that they had chosen and to show at least once on the la rochelle road, so as to lead their pursuers to the conclusion that it was to that town that they were bound.
in the middle of the day they halted for two hours at a farmhouse, and allowed their horses to rest and feed, and then shifted the saddles again, for rupert had, since starting in the morning, run the greater part of the way with his hand on the horse's saddle, so that the animal was quite fresh when they reached their first halting place.
they then rode on and came down into the la rochelle road, at a spot near which they had heard that a wayside inn stood at which they could obtain refreshments. the instant they drew rein at the door, they saw from the face of the landlord that inquiries had been made for them.
"you had better not dismount, sir. these fellows may play you some trick or other. i will bring some refreshments out, and learn the news."
so saying, rupert leapt from his horse, took his pistols from their holsters, placed one in his belt, and having cocked the other, went up to the landlord.
"bring out five manchettes of bread," he said, "and a few bottles of your best wine; and tell me how long is it since men came here asking if you had seen us?"
"this morning, about noon," the man said. "two gendarmes came along, and a troop of soldiers passed an hour since; they came from parthenay."
"did they say anything besides asking for us? come, here is a louis to quicken your recollection."
"they said to each other, as they drank their wine, that you could not have passed here yet, since you could not get fresh horses, as they had done. moreover, they said that troops from every place on the road were out in search of you."
"call your man, and bid him bring out quickly the things i have named," rupert said.
the man did so; and a lad, looking scared at the sight of rupert's drawn pistol, brought out the wine and bread, and three drinking horns.
"how far is it to la rochelle?" rupert asked.
"thirty-five miles."
"are there any byroads, by which we can make a detour, so as to avoid this main road, and so come down either from the north or south into the town?"
the landlord gave some elaborate directions.
"good!" rupert said. "i think we shall get through yet."
then he broke up two of the portions of bread, and gave them to the horses, removed the bits from their mouths, and poured a bottle of wine down each of their throats; then bridled up and mounted, throwing two louis to the host, and saying:
"we can trust you to be secret as to our having been here, can we not?"
the landlord swore a great oath that he would say nothing of their having passed, and they then rode on.
"that landlord had 'rogue' written on his face," adele said.
"yes, indeed," rupert said. "i warrant me by this time he has sent off to the nearest post. now we will take the first road to the north, and make for nantes. it is getting dark now, and we must not make more than another ten miles. these poor brutes have gone thirty already."
two hours' further riding at an easy pace brought them to a village, where they were hospitably received at the house of the maire of the place.
the start was again made early.
"we must do our best today," the marquis said. "we have a fifty-five mile ride before us; and if the horses take us there, their work is done, so we can press them to the utmost. the troops will have been marching all night along the road on which the innkeeper set them; but by this morning they will begin to suspect that they have been put on a false scent, and as likely as not will send to nantes. we must be first there, if possible."
the horses, however, tired by their long journeys on the two preceding days, flagged greatly during the last half of the journey, and it was late in the afternoon before they came in sight of nantes. at a slight rise half a mile from the town rupert looked back along the straight, level road on which they had ridden the last few miles of the journey.
"there is a body of men in the distance, marquis. a troop of cavalry, i should say. they are a long way behind--three miles or so; and if they are in chase of us, their horses must be fagged; but in five-and-twenty minutes they will be here."
they urged their weary steeds into a gallop as far as the town, and then rode quietly along the streets into an inn yard. here they dismounted in a leisurely way.
"take the horses round to the stable, rub them down and give them food," the marquis said to the ostler who came out.
then turning to the host, he said:
"a sitting room, with a good fire. two bedrooms for myself and my daughter, a bedroom for my servant. prepare a meal at once. we have a friend to see before we enter."
so saying, he turned with his daughter, as if to retrace his steps up the street; but on reaching the first side street, turned, and then, by another street, made his way down to the river, rupert following closely behind.
"there is la belle jeanne," the marquis exclaimed. "that is fortunate. the captain said he should be returning in a week or ten days, so i hope he has his cargo on board, and will be open to make a start at once."
