arranged that you were to remain with me and that Olivain
should return to Paris. I shall follow the count’s
directions.”
“Not under present circumstances, monsieur.”
“Perhaps you mean to disobey me?”
“Yes, monsieur, I must.”
“You persist, then?”
“Yes, I am going; may you be happy, monsieur,” and Grimaud
saluted and turned toward the door to go out.
Raoul, angry and at the same time uneasy, ran after him and
seized him by the arm. “Grimaud!” he cried; “remain; I wish
it.”
“Then,” replied Grimaud, “you wish me to allow monsieur le
comte to be killed.” He saluted and made a movement to
depart.
“Grimaud, my friend,” said the viscount, “will you leave me
thus, in such anxiety? Speak, speak, in Heaven’s name!” And
Raoul fell back trembling upon his chair.
“I can tell you but one thing, sir, for the secret you wish
to know is not my own. You met a monk, did you not?”
“Yes.”
The young men looked at each other with an expression of
fear.
“You conducted him to the wounded man and you had time to
observe him, and perhaps you would know him again were you
to meet him.”
“Yes, yes!” cried both young men.
“Very well; if ever you meet him again, wherever it may be,
whether on the high road or in the street or in a church,
anywhere that he or you may be, put your foot on his neck
and crush him without pity, without mercy, as you would
crush a viper or a scorpion! destroy him utterly and quit
him not until he is dead; the lives of five men are not
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safe, in my opinion, as long as he is on the earth.”
And without adding another word, Grimaud, profiting by the
astonishment and terror into which he had thrown his
auditors, rushed from the room. Two minutes later the
thunder of a horse’s hoofs was heard upon the road; it was
Grimaud, on his way to Paris. When once in the saddle
Grimaud reflected on two things; first, that at the pace he
was going his horse would not carry him ten miles, and
secondly, that he had no money. But Grimaud’s ingenuity was
more prolific than his speech, and therefore at the first
halt he sold his steed and with the money obtained from the
purchase took post horses.
34
On the Eve of Battle.
Raoul was aroused from his sombre reflections by his host,
who rushed into the apartment crying out, “The Spaniards!
the Spaniards!”
That cry was of such importance as to overcome all
preoccupation. The young men made inquiries and ascertained
that the enemy was advancing by way of Houdin and Bethune.
While Monsieur d’Arminges gave orders for the horses to be
made ready for departure, the two young men ascended to the
upper windows of the house and saw in the direction of
Marsin and of Lens a large body of infantry and cavalry.
This time it was not a wandering troop of partisans; it was
an entire army. There was therefore nothing for them to do
but to follow the prudent advice of Monsieur d’Arminges and
beat a retreat. They quickly went downstairs. Monsieur
d’Arminges was already mounted. Olivain had ready the horses
of the young men, and the lackeys of the Count de Guiche
guarded carefully between them the Spanish prisoner, mounted
on a pony which had been bought for his use. As a further
precaution they had bound his hands.
The little company started off at a trot on the road to
Cambrin, where they expected to find the prince. But he was
no longer there, having withdrawn on the previous evening to
La Bassee, misled by false intelligence of the enemy’s
movements. Deceived by this intelligence he had concentrated
his forces between Vieille-Chapelle and La Venthie; and
after a reconnoissance along the entire line, in company
with Marshal de Grammont, he had returned and seated himself
before a table, with his officers around him. He questioned
them as to the news they had each been charged to obtain,
but nothing positive had been learned. The hostile army had
disappeared two days before and seemed to have gone out of