Category: Historical Novels
Andrea de Mancini sprawled, ingloriously drunk, upon the floor. His legs were thrust under the table, and his head rested against the chair from which he had slipped; his long black hair was tossed and dishevelled; his handsome, boyish face flushed and garbed in the vacant exp...
Twixt Paris and Choisy there lies but a distance of some two leagues, which, given a fair horse, one may cover with ease in little more than half an hour. So that as the twiligh...
24. CHAPTER XXIV. OF THE PASSING OF ST. AUBANDame! What an ado there was next day in Blois, when the news came that the troopers had installed themselves at the Château de Canaples and that the Chevalier had been arrested...
6. CHAPTER VI. OF HOW ANDREA BECAME LOVE-SICKWith what fictions I could call to mind I put off Andrea's questions touching the peculiar fashion of St. Auban's leave-taking. Tell him the truth and expose to him the situatio...
15. CHAPTER XV. OF MY RESURRECTIONEven as the blow which had plunged me into senselessness had imparted to me the sinking sensation which I have feebly endeavoured to depict, so did the first dim ray of returnin...
25. CHAPTER XXV. PLAY-ACTINGFor a little while I stood gazing down at my work, my mind full of the unsolvable mysteries of life and death; then I bethought me that time stood not still for me, and that som...
3. CHAPTER III. THE FIGHT IN THE HORSE-MARKETI let him go without a word. There was that in his voice, in his eye, and in the gesture wherewith he bade me hold the door for him, that cleared my mind of any doubts touching...
4. CHAPTER IV. FAIR RESCUERSLike the calm of the heavens when pregnant with thunder was the calm of that crowd. And as brief it was; for scarce had I taken a dozen steps when my ears were assailed by a rum...
14. CHAPTER XIV. OF WHAT BEFELL AT REAUX. At my captor's bidding I mountedthe horse which they had untethered from the carriage, and we started off along the road which the coach itself had disappeared upon a moment before. But we travelled at a gentl...
12. CHAPTER XII. THE RESCUESome precious moments did I waste standing with that green rag betwixt my fingers, and I grew sick and numb in body and in mind. She was gone! Carried off by a man I had reason...
19. CHAPTER XIX. OF MY RETURN TO PARISScant cause is there for me to tarry over the details of my return to Paris. A sad enough journey was it; as sad for my poor Michelot as for myself, since he rode with one so de...
21. CHAPTER XXI. OF THE BARGAIN THAT ST. AUBAN DROVE WITH MY LORD CARDINALFrom the wounded man's bedside I wended my steps back to the Rue St. Antoine, resolved to start for Blois that very night; and beside me walked Montrésor, with bent head, like a...
7. CHAPTER VII. THE CHÂTEAU DE CANAPLESDespite the strenuous efforts which Andrea compelled us to put forth, we did not again come up with Mesdemoiselles de Canaples, who in truth must have travelled with greater spe...
10. CHAPTER X. THE CONSCIENCE OF MALPERTUISAnd so back to my room I went, my task accomplished, and so pleased was I with what had passed that as I drew on my boots--preparing to set out to Canaples--I laughed softly to...
8. CHAPTER VIII. THE FORESHADOW OF DISASTERIn the spacious dining salon of the Château de Canaples I found the two daughters of my host awaiting us--those same two ladies of the coach in Place Vendôme and of the hostelry...
16. CHAPTER XVI. THE WAY OF WOMANFor all that I realised that this love of mine for Yvonne was as a child still-born--a thing that had no existence save in the heart that had begotten it--I rejoiced meanly at t...
13. CHAPTER XIII. THE HAND OF YVONNEWe did not long remain upon the field of battle. Indeed, if we lingered at all it was but so that Mademoiselle might bandage Michelot's wound. And whilst she did so, my stout he...
20. CHAPTER XX. OF HOW THE CHEVALIER DE CANAPLES BECAME A FRONDEURIt wanted an hour or so to noon next day as I drove across the Pont Neuf in a closed carriage, and was borne down the Rue St. Dominique to the portals of that splendid palace, f...
11. CHAPTER XI. OF A WOMAN'S OBSTINACYIt was afternoon. We had dined, and the bright sunshine and spring-like mildness of the weather had lured us out upon the terrace. Yvonne and Geneviève occupied the stone seat....
1. CHAPTER I. OF HOW A BOY DRANK TOO MUCH WINE, AND WHAT CAME OF ITAndrea de Mancini sprawled, ingloriously drunk, upon the floor. His legs were thrust under the table, and his head rested against the chair from which he had slipped; his long b...
18. CHAPTER XVIII. OF HOW I LEFT CANAPLESWhilst a man might tell a dozen did those two remain motionless, the one eyeing the other. But their bearing was as widely different as their figures; Eugène's stalwart frame st...
2. CHAPTER II. THE FRUIT OF INDISCRETIONDespite the dejection to which I had become a prey, I slept no less soundly that night than was my wont, and indeed it was not until late next morning when someone knocked at my...
26. CHAPTER XXVI. REPARATIONSoon after ten, and before the moon had risen, a silent procession wended its way from the château to the river. First went Montrésor and two of his men; next came the Chevalier...
17. CHAPTER XVII. FATHER AND SON“Gaston,” quoth Andrea next morning, “you will remain at Canaples until to-morrow? You must, for to-morrow I am to be wed, and I would fain have your good wishes ere you go.”
23. CHAPTER XXIII. OF HOW ST. AUBAN CAME TO BLOISIn silence we rode back to Blois. Not that I lacked matter for conversation. Anger and chagrin at the thought that I had come upon this journey to earn naught but an insult and...
9. CHAPTER IX. OF HOW A WHIP PROVED A BETTER ARGUMENT THAN A TONGUEIt wanted an hour or so to noon on the day following that of St. Auban's arrival at Blois, and I was on the point of setting out for the château on an errand of warning.
22. CHAPTER XXII. OF MY SECOND JOURNEY TO CANAPLESAn hour after I had quitted the Hôtel de Luynes, Michelot and I left Paris by the barrier St. Michel and took the Orleans road. How different it looked in the bright June sunshi...