"Pish, you timorous one!" he laughed, and resumed his tale. "I am from Artois, then. I have some property there, and it lately came to my ears that this assembly of curs they call the Convention had determined to make an end of me. But before they could carry out their design, those sons of dogs, my tenants, incited by the choice examples set them by other tenantry, made a descent on my Chateau one night, and did themselves the pleasure of burning it to the ground. By a miracle I escaped with my life and lay hidden for three weeks in the house of an old peasant who had remained faithful.
In that time I let my beard grow, and trained my hair into a patriotic unkemptness. Then, in filthy garments, like any true Republican, I set out to cross the frontier. As I approached it, I was filled with fears that I might not win across, and then, in the moment of my doubtings, I came upon that most opportune of couriers. I had the notion to change places with him, and I did.
He was the bearer of a letter to the Deputy La Boulaye, of whom you may have heard, and this letter I opened to discover that it charged him to effect my arrest."
If La Boulaye was startled, his face never betrayed it, not by so much as the quiver of an eyelid. He sat on, his jaw in his palm, his eyes admiringly bent upon the speaker.
"You may judge of my honesty, and of how fully sensible I was of the trust I had undertaken, when I tell you that with my own hand I delivered the letter this morning to that animal La Boulaye at Boisvert." He seemed to swell with pride in his achievement.
"Diable!" he continued. "Mine was a fine piece of acting. I would you could have seen me play the part of the patriot. Think of the irony of it! I won out of France with the very papers ordering my arrest. Ma foi! You should have seen me befool that dirt of a deputy! It was a performance worthy of Talma himself." And he looked from Cadoux to La Boulaye for applause.
"I doubt not," said the Deputy coldly. "It must have been worth witnessing. But does it not seem a pity to spoil everything and to neutralise so wonderful an achievement for the mere sake of boasting of it to a poor, ignorant peasant, Monsieur le Vicomte Anatole d'Ombreval?"
With a sudden cry, the pseudo courier leapt to his feet, whilst Des Cadoux turned on the stool he occupied to stare alarmedly at the speaker.
"Name of God! Who are you?" demanded Ombreval advancing a step.
With his sleeve La Boulaye rubbed part of the disfiguring smear from his face as he stood up and made answer coolly:
"I am that dirt of a Deputy whom you befooled at Boisvert." Then, raising his voice, "Garin!" he shouted, and immediately the door opened and the soldiers filed in.
Ombreval stood like a statue, thunderstruck with amazement at this most unlooked-for turning of the tables, his face ashen, his weak mouth fallen open and his eyes fearful.
Des Cadoux, who had also risen, seemed to take in the situation at a glance. Like a well-bred gamester who knows how to lose with a good grace the old gentleman laughed drily to himself as he tapped his snuff-box.
"We are delightfully taken, cher Vicomte," he murmured, applying the tobacco to his nostril as he spoke. "It's odds you won't be able to repeat that pretty story to any more of your friends. I warned you that you inclined to relate it too often."
With a sudden oath, Ombreval - moved to valour by the blind rage that possessed him - sprang at La Boulaye. But, as suddenly, Garin caught his arms from behind and held him fast.
"Remove them both," La Boulaye commanded. "Place them in safety for the night, and see that they do not escape you, Garin, as you value your neck."
Des Coudax shut his snuff-box with a snap.
"For my part, I am ready, Monsieur - your pardon - Citizen," he said, "and I shall give you no trouble. But since I am not, I take it, included in the orders you have received, I have a proposal to make which may prove mutually convenient."
"Pray make it, Citizen," said La Boulaye.
"It occurs to me that it may occasion you some measure of annoyance to carry me all the way to Paris - and certainly, for my part, I should much prefer not to undertake the journey. For one thing, it will be fatiguing, for another, I have no desire to look upon the next world through the little window of the guillotine. I wish, then, to propose, Citizen," pursued the old nobleman, nonchalantly dusting some fragments of tobacco from his cravat. "that you deal with me out of hand."
"How, Citizen?" inquired La Boulaye.
"Why, your men, I take it are tolerable marksmen. I think that it might prove more convenient to both of us if you were to have me shot as soon as there is light enough."
La Boulaye's eyes rested in almost imperceptible kindness upon Des Cadoux. Here, at least, was an aristocrat with a spirit to be admired and emulated.
"You are choosing the lesser of two evils, Citizen," said the Deputy.
"Precisely," answered Des Cadoux.
"But possibly, Citizen, it may be yours to avoid both. You shall hear from me in the morning. I beg that you will sleep tranquilly in the meantime. Garin, remove the prisoners."
