In the Day of Adversity

It seemed almost as if he had been expected from his appearance being received in so matter-of-fact a way. Yet, he reflected, why should it be otherwise? Aurelie de Roquemaure c...

By the time that the wintry night was about once more to close in upon them they were nearing Aignay-le-Duc, having passed through the village of Baigneux some two or three hour...

The Epiphany--called in old France, under the Bourbons, _la Fete des Rois_--was drawing to a close, as St. Georges, his handsome face looking very dejected and his heart heavy a...

Two days later, when again the wintry evening was fast approaching, St. Georges, by now alone, drew near to the ancient city of Troyes. So near, indeed, had he arrived that its...

She was, indeed, judging by the building which now rose before him from the side of the road along which he had come. Unapproached by any path, unsurrounded by any out-towers or...

Midnight was sounding from the steeples of Chatillon as the soldiers rode their tired beasts across the bridge over the Seine and through the deserted street that led up to the...

The hot sun of those last days of May beat down on the white roads and the orchards and the pastures surrounding the town of Rambouillet, and shone also with unpleasant strength...

St. Georges was lodged in an old inn on Tower Hill now, in a large room that ran from the front to the back of the house and with, on the latter side, a lookout upon an old chur...

The weather had changed, the frost was gone, and the night was hot and murky, while rain was falling, as alone, now, alas! St. Georges mounted the summit of a hill that rose clo...

"La plus cruelle de toutes les voies par laquelle le roi fut instruit bien des annees fut celle de l'ouverture des lettres. Il est incroyable combien des gens de toutes les sort...

"You come a little late, Monsieur St. Georges," the harsh, raucous, and underbred voice of Louvois said--"a little late. Too late by far for an officer selected by his Majesty f...

Wrapped in his cloak, and prevented from falling by his bridle arm, he bore a little child--a girl some three years old--on whom, as the cloak would sometimes become disarranged...

The July sun blazed down upon the sea which lay beneath it as unruffled as an artificial lake inland; there was no ripple on the water as far as the eye could see; above the wat...

The _cours criminel_ on the banks of the Seine had been crowded all day, and the judges seated on the bench began to exhibit signs of fatigue at their labours. They had sat from...

The night of Sunday had passed; already the holiday-makers were seeking their beds after a day spent in the country--by some in the woods of Fontainebleau and St. Germains; by o...

A considerable hubbub outside the manoir--the crying of a woman, and the voices of various men all talking together--aroused St. Georges from his sleep as the wintry dawn broke...

The duel was not, however, to take place in the road, since at that moment, and when both men were preparing to draw their swords, the inn door opened and two persons came forth...

"Who, then, is Phelypeaux?" asked St. Georges as he sat himself down in front of the great kitchen fire--the kitchen serving always in a Burgundian inn as the general place of a...

Then came toward him a figure terrible to behold, a creature in the garb of a woman, a knife at her girdle, her pockets, which were outside her dress, bulging, and from their op...

The wine _was_ good! Worthy of whatever _clos_ it had ripened on! A glass of it went far to repay St. Georges for any discomfort he had suffered during the wretched meal just co...

From the frigate there floated at the maintop-gallant-masthead the flag of a rear admiral; on the poop of the frigate herself there stood, surrounded by his officers, Admiral Ro...

The first thought of both the victors was to see to the child, who, while still screaming piteously, was unharmed--though a deep cut in St. Georges's sleeve and, as he afterward...

The sun was setting brilliantly behind the peninsula that juts out into the English Channel and forms the department of La Manche; its last rays as it fell away behind Cherbourg...

On quitting Louvois he made his way swiftly along the corridor leading from the chamber on the ground floor in which he had been received to the courtyard, no interruption being...

"Madame," the waiting maid said to her the next afternoon, "the gentleman is desirous of setting forth upon his journey again. He is well now, he says, and he has far to ride."

Outside the court all was sunshine and brightness on that June evening, and all the people streaming out in the warm air--that yet seemed fresh and cool after the stuffiness wit...

Had St. Georges followed the impulse that first occurred to him when he recognised the man Andre, he would have made some excuse for not remaining a night in Bayeux, but would h...

The deserted road along which he now walked was, in a way, a relief to him. Nothing could have better suited his present needs than to be thus outside the life of any town and f...

As he staggered back after that revelation, St. Georges noticed that the great chant sounded less strongly and more distantly in his ears, and, seized with a sudden apprehension...

The windows of the _salon_ giving on to the crushed-shell path of the Hotel de Louvigny had been open all day to let in the air, and the handsomely apparelled young officer of t...

When he had thoroughly recovered from the swoon into which he had fallen on hearing that he was free, he had again and again overwhelmed the mousquetaire with his gratitude--all...

None riding along the Portsmouth road that warm April night could doubt that a great crisis was at hand. Certainly St. Georges did not do so as couriers and messengers galloped...

It was a vastly different repast from that of the Bishop of Lodeve's which was offered to St. Georges, although the difference consisted more, perhaps, in the manner of cooking...

He alighted in the exact middle of the porch roof and fell with his ankles against the foot-high raised parapet. Then he paused a moment ere deciding what he should do next.

Monsieur so far partook of it on descending--after he had made a rapid toilet, cleaned his sword by passing the folds of his cloak over it, and (good soldier as he was!) having...