Twenty Years Later by Dumas, Alexandre. Part one

me the first monk, the first cure, the first priest you may

meet. But,” he added in a despairing tone, “perhaps no one

will dare to come for it is known that the Spaniards are

ranging through the country, and I shall die without

absolution. My God! my God! Good God! good God!” added the

wounded man, in an accent of terror which made the young men

shudder; “you will not allow that? that would be too

terrible!”

“Calm yourself, sir,” replied De Guiche. “I swear to you,

you shall receive the consolation that you ask. Only tell us

where we shall find a house at which we can demand aid and a

village from which we can fetch a priest.”

“Thank you, and God reward you! About half a mile from this,

on the same road, there is an inn, and about a mile further

on, after leaving the inn, you will reach the village of

Greney. There you must find the curate, or if he is not at

home, go to the convent of the Augustines, which is the last

house on the right, and bring me one of the brothers. Monk

or priest, it matters not, provided only that he has

received from holy church the power of absolving in articulo

mortis.”

“Monsieur d’Arminges,” said De Guiche, “remain beside this

unfortunate man and see that he is removed as gently as

possible. The vicomte and myself will go and find a priest.”

“Go, sir,” replied the tutor; “but in Heaven’s name do not

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expose yourself to danger!”

“Do not fear. Besides, we are safe for to-day; you know the

axiom, `Non bis in idem.'”

“Courage, sir,” said Raoul to the wounded man. “We are going

to execute your wishes.”

“May Heaven prosper you!” replied the dying man, with an

accent of gratitude impossible to describe.

The two young men galloped off in the direction mentioned

and in ten minutes reached the inn. Raoul, without

dismounting, called to the host and announced that a wounded

man was about to be brought to his house and begged him in

the meantime to prepare everything needful. He desired him

also, should he know in the neighborhood any doctor or

chirurgeon, to fetch him, taking on himself the payment of

the messenger.

The host, who saw two young noblemen, richly clad, promised

everything they required, and our two cavaliers, after

seeing that preparations for the reception were actually

begun, started off again and proceeded rapidly toward

Greney.

They had gone rather more than a league and had begun to

descry the first houses of the village, the red-tiled roofs

of which stood out from the green trees which surrounded

them, when, coming toward them mounted on a mule, they

perceived a poor monk, whose large hat and gray worsted

dress made them take him for an Augustine brother. Chance

for once seemed to favor them in sending what they were so

assiduously seeking. He was a man about twenty-two or

twenty-three years old, but who appeared much older from

ascetic exercises. His complexion was pale, not of that

deadly pallor which is a kind of neutral beauty, but of a

bilious, yellow hue; his colorless hair was short and

scarcely extended beyond the circle formed by the hat around

his head, and his light blue eyes seemed destitute of any

expression.

“Sir,” began Raoul, with his usual politeness, “are you an

ecclesiastic?”

“Why do you ask me that?” replied the stranger, with a

coolness which was barely civil.

“Because we want to know,” said De Guiche, haughtily.

The stranger touched his mule with his heel and continued

his way.

In a second De Guiche had sprung before him and barred his

passage. “Answer, sir,” exclaimed he; “you have been asked

politely, and every question is worth an answer.”

“I suppose I am free to say or not to say who I am to two

strangers who take a fancy to ask me.”

It was with difficulty that De Guiche restrained the intense

desire he had of breaking the monk’s bones.

“In the first place,” he said, making an effort to control

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