The sunny South. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1875-1907, February 01, 1878, Image 6
Twice Saved,
AND
HOW SHE DID IT!
The Old Maid Happy at Last.
(CoKCiUDBD. )
BY J. L. J.
This she sent by the servant
Dr. Jayes oaiae over early, and was delighted
with the improvement in his patient
“We shall soon have him well,’ be declared,
hopefully. “He has a splendid constitution.”
Hiss Kenneth made a pretence of taking her
breakfast, but she felt ill nnd frightened. One
moment she shivered with the cold, and the
next her very breath seemed te scorch her trem
ulous lips. When the summons came for her,
she could scarcely walk.
“ He insists upon seeing you alone," said
Mrs. Alcott. “Please be careful, and do not ex
cite him. Of course he owes his life to you.”
With that she looked hard at Eleanor. Was
there anything like love between these two peo
ple.
*‘1 had not thonght of that at all,” Eleanor
said, absently. “ Home one else would doubt
less have found him.”
Then sue entered the room. He was deadly
pale, but the old sweet, earnest look was in his
face, and as he moved his eyes she discovered
something that she had never seen before—
something that stirred every pulse, something,
too, that be did not mean to have there.
“ I am glad you are better,” she began confus
edly. “ In the excitement last evening I care
lessly opened a letter belonging to you, as it was
among mine, and 1 wish to apologize and restore
it I was expecting to hear from my brother-in-
law upon some business or I should not have
been so stupid.
He took the letter, and with a great effort
opened it. The pallor of his face appeared to
grow more marked, and his features sharpened
with a struggle like that of death, and at first
she thought he would faint.
“Oh, what can I do?” she cried, in distress.
“Nothing. Do not be so terrified, Miss Ken
neth. I think 1 shall have a giant’s strength up
to the last moment, and I couldn't give you pain
by dying here before your eyes. Though under
ordinary circumstances a man ought to be thank
ful to a woman who has snatched him from
death—still, I am not sure but that death would
have been the best thing for me. I am reaping
the result of my folly.”
“You are in some trouble.”
“Yes; but a good and honorable woman like
you would be shocked by the story—a common
enough one, too; perhaps the most sensible thing
for me to do w ould be to tear off thtse bandages
quietly, and drift ont of the world. If 1 live, it
is ruin, disgrace—worse, mayhap.”
She came a step nearer.
“Y T ou did not mean to take yonr life yester
day ? ” she asked, with a nameless terror in her
voice.
“Oh.no. Don’t think me so weak. Besides,
I was not sure it would be so bad then. I ought
not to have gone, hut—it seemed the less of two
evils. I did not dare trust myselt here with you,
and if I remained I could not stay away from
yon. Miss Kenneth, let me confess the sum of
my villanies. 1 am engaged to a girl who I have
every reason to believe loves me. For her sake
I was making habte to be rich. I have used
some money confided tc my cure, and lost it. I
have met with a woman who could be the ideal
of any honest and honorable man’s life and love.
She has given no encouragement by word or
deed that she could care for me; but through her
I have learned how tender and absorbing a pas
sion might enter a man’s soul and reviviiy it.
So here 1 tell her the truth, that she may despise
me, as I deserve. All this you see is the bitter
sting in the sweet knowledge that you have
saved my life.”
He was quite exhausted then, and turned his
face over on the pillow. She seemed to be per
fectly antGmatic in the first moments following
his confession, not taking in the full sense of
anything.
“Have y ou no friends—”
“There is not a man in the world to whom I
could confide this horrible business. I might
have borrowed the money and replaced it, but
when one bus always been considered honor
able” He paused, and the scornful intona
tion in his weuk voice died away ere he re
sumed, “So y ou see it is best for me to make a
finish of this little thing we call life. I am not
sure bat that 1 could die quite easily.”
He looked as if he might. His eyes were
growing glassy and sunken, and his lips were
as colorless as his brow.
“If this money were replaced—”
“But it cannot be now. It is my punishment
for sin. It looked so plausible then—”
His voice sabk away to a whisper. A slight
tremor ran over him, and then all was still.
Eleanor applied the nearest restorative, and
afterwards summoned Mrs. Alcott.
“O Eleanor, how could y ou ! I was afraid of
this. The doctor said all depended upon his
being kept quiet and free from excitement."
Eleanor Kenneth answered not a word. She
seemed to he in a maze whichever way she
tnrned. Standing there so white and still
seemed to annoy Mrs. Alcott, so she turned and
went out of the room.
The fact that Mr. Palmer did or could have
loved her bad very little weight with her then.
After confessing all these sins and weaknesses
he had fallen lar below her ideal. Yet she ex
perienced a profound pity for him.
She had picked up the fatal letter, and still
held it in her hand. Now she read it thorough
ly. As far as she conld understand the case,
there was urgent and immediate need for three
thousand pounds, the money held in trust.
Gordon Palmer had used it for private specula
tion.
After all, what was it to her ? They were the
simplest of summer friends. Were they ? She
looked closely into her own heart. If she were
a man she would not hesitate tosav- him. For
ever afterwards they would be friends.
She had begun to experience the narrowness
and loneliness of her own life, and was longing
to do something that wonld take her beyond
the every-day round, give her a warm and vital
interest in her fellow-creatures.
Bu£ this would yield no such fruits. His al
legiance was to another woman. If he wavered
here for her sake, might be not some time waver
elsewhere for another’s sake ?
Tet it would be so very easy to save him.
The knowledge and desire grew upon her, as
well as the peculiar craving for something
strange and new. If she resened this sonl now,
it might never yield to temptation in the years
to oome.
Bnt it wonld be for another woman’s pleasure
and happiness—to see other lips quaffing the
delicious draught and basking in the sunshine
of proeperity ! Then she thrnst sside the joil-
pain. If there was any grace or virtue or
nobleness in the deed, why-should she let« pet
ty resentment stand in the way ?
By noon she had decided. That he might
die and she be greatly the loser thereby, never
once entered her mind. In foot, she only
thought of the ruin and disgraoe that would
meet him on the threshold of returning health.
Mrs. Aloott made no demur and asked no
questions. She thought it quite as well that
Eleanor should be out of the way for a day or
two.
Eleanor was glad to find her brother-in-law,
Mr. Gale, absent from town. She drew on him
for three thousand pounds, and deposited it in
a bank subject to Gordon Palmer’s order. It
was, after all, such an easy thing to do.
For the next ten days Palmer hovered be
tween life and death. He was delirious most of
the time, but so incoherent it mattered little
what he said.
When Mrs. Allcott was wearied out, Eleanor
took her place and won golden encomiums. She
was cool and calm and steady enough now.
Rosamond Archer was sent for through Dick
Bassett’s intervention. He was surprised to
find that Eleanor knew of his friend's engage
ment
Mr. Basset came to her with an anxious face
one morning.
There was some trouble in Palmer’s money
affairs.
“It’s a mistake, I know, for I’d stake my very
soul on Palmer’s honesty. He couldn’t do a
mean or questionable thing. Only there ought
to be a large sum of money—bang it! if I bad
three thousand pounds of my own, there should
not he another word said. No one wonld dare
hint it now if he was not lying on his back
with not as much sense as a kitten.”
She had much ado to keep the scarlet ont of
her face and the sudden tremor from her voice.
“Have you looked through all his papers ?”
she asked.
“All the important ones, I think.”
“I laid a little pareel in that small drawer.
Mrs. Alcott has the key. It was a day or two
after the accident.
Mrs. Alcoit had mislaid the key, and there
was great search for one that wonld fit.
There were some of Miss Archer's letters, busi
ness memoranda, and the receipt book of the
deposit.
“Good ! I knew he had everything all right,”
said the delighted fellow. “I shall take it upon
myself to go straight to London and stop this
abominable suspicion. The party can have
their money at a moment's notice.”
Eleanor made no reply.
Basset was off on the next train.
Rosamond Archer came that day, a lovely, pe
tite, graceful girl, with curls like floss silk and
a voice as sweet ss a bird.
Eleanor did not wonder that Palmer had been
enchanted.
These were the women that always carried
men captive.
Then there was a great difference between
eighteen and thirty, she admitted with a sigh.
The message had followed Miss Archer from
place to place, the delay nearly driving her
frantic. Her despair and sorrow, that refused
comfort, roused every one’s sympathy. Her
whole soul seemed to be centered in Gordon
Palmer’s life. Everybody was interested in her
immediately.
Flowers, luxuries and delicacies of all kinds
were showered upon these two, who gave the
hotel such an air of romance.
Eleanor Kenneth did not take cordially to her
rival.
Perhaps that was not in woman's nature. Her
presence was necessary in the sick room, lor
though Rosamond conld arrange flowers to per
fection, and bend over her lover in speechless
grief, she had no taste for the small, tiresome
details. She fanned him ten minutes, Eleanor
by the hour; she grew tired of the enforced
quiet and solitude, ,tind accepted invitatiocs to
ride or walk, for her aunt was very solicitons
about her health.
Eleanor grew a little paler and thinner, but
no one remarked it; in fact, all the rest were
half infatuated about Miss Archer.
One day Basset had taken her ont on a drive,
and Palmer and Miss Kenneth were alone. He
was beginning to sit up, and had been reading
some letters from London. What between these
and his friend’s confused accounts, he was be
ginning to suspect the truth. He had been mi
raculously saved.
He watched her now, and noted what the
world had failed to see.
She was looking tired and sad.
“Miss Kenneth,” he began, in a weak, quiver
ing voice, “I do not know how to thank you
for yonr friendship. Such things look possible
in books, but one rarely finds them outside of
romance.”
“If you are satisfied to live and make the best
of life, it will be a sufficient reward to me.”
“I have thought of it a good deal lying here.
I mean, heaven helping me, to go back to my
faith of five years ago, even if I take with it
poverty. For then 1 was an honorable man,
MissKenneth. If I conld have met you then!”
“Perhaps it is better now. You may need a
friend.”
“Such a one as yon have been. Say an angel,
rather. I am not worthy to worship you
in silence. 1 can guess that you have been my
benefactor. I felt at first that I conld not ac
cept salvation and a fair name throngh a woman
who must always despise me.”
“Hush do not speak of it. You would take it
from any other friend.”
“It is done, and I cannot help myself. There
were three thousand pounds to my acconnt at
the bank. I want to give you a note for it now.
Principal and interest shall be paid, if my life
he spared, before I indulge myself in one wish
or desire.”
“Do not make it too much of a burden,” she
said, smiling.
“In my desk there you will find some paper.
I cannot rest until the matter is properly ar
ranged. For the rest nothing on earth could re
pay you.”
When she Baw how earnest he was she brought
him the pen and paper.
“The kindness comes down to a very com
mon-place basis,” she said, quietly. “ It is
merely an exchange of securities—so much
money for so many years at so much interest.”
“Bat I remember when and how you did it.
I might have died.”
“1 felt sure that you would not. I did not
suppose I was running any risk. Yon see I am
a sharp business woman alter all.”
He wonld not smile.
Presently he tnrned away his head that she
might not see the slow-dropping tears; but, wo
man-like, Bhe knew they were there. Indeed,
shefelt like crying herself.
She wonld have liked to bury her face on the
pillow beside his, for she felt weak and foolish
as the veriest girl.
“I think you will never regret yonr good
work,” he said at length.
And then there was a long silence.
A week later there was a general dispersion at
Tower Point Vacations were over, and sum
mer was drawing to a close.
The men returned to business, the women to
put their houses in order.
Palmer went to London, thongh he was hardly
able, while Rosamond and her annt started
afresh on their French tonr.
Eleanor rejoined her sister in Ootober. She
had been there hardly a week when Gordon
Palmer called on her.
“I have been settling np my business,” he ex-
f lained, “and find myself really better off than
expected. So 1 have brought yon a check for
five hundred. I am going on a business jour
ney and shall not be back before March.”
“But your marriage?” she said ia astonish
ment
“It has been put off for a year. I must get
out of debt first, so it may be longer. But Rosa
mond was sweet as an angel, and willing to
wait”
Both saw the gulf between them. There was
no bridging it over.
“I can only wish you success,” she said.
“Courage and truth and manliness may
achievd it We pride ourselves upon our
strength, but it is not as all-powerful as we im
agine. I mean that you shall never be ashamed
of having saved me.”
Eleanor confessed honestly enongh to herself,
that night, that Bhe cared more for this man
than any one she had ever met. Looking over
the events now, it seemed so strange that she
shonld go to Tower Point to find this nnusual
episode, and come so near falling in love with a
man whose allegiance had been given elsewhere.
She fought bravely against the inclination, and
tried to feel interested in her sister's gaieties.
Miss Aroher came back at midwinter and made
a little dazzle in society, attaching herself oddly
enough to Eleanor. She loved to talk to Gordon
Palmer.
Her aunt thought it queer and crochety of
him to give np his business and start off in snch
a sudden fashion, bat Rosamond had all faith
in him.
Why had fate brought these two together?
They were alike in so many respects, and where
Palmer was weakest Rosamond wonld never
have any strength to give him. Indeed, she
conld not see that he needed any.
Not that he was likely ever to go astray again.
He was not that kind of a man to need two
lessons.
Sometimes Eleanor wondered what Rosamond
would have done under similar cironmstances.
She was quite a rich woman, and would be her
aunt's heir, as that lady freely admitted. She
found out one day. A gentleman, whose char
acter had hitherto been irreproachable, had
yielded to the momentary madness of tempta
tion.
“It is the one thing that I conld not forgive,”
Rosamond declared with energy. “To think
of a person for whom yon have cared being a—
thief! for it is that. If I were Mrs. Lambert I
conld never love him again, never?”
“I think she was very noble to give up her
private fortune in order to settle the claim as
far as she could,” Eleanor replied, softly.
“I think it very foolish. I shonld have kept
my money for myself and my children. If he
was weak enough to sin he shonld pay the pen
alty.”
The pretty face settled into hard lines.
No; Gordon Palmer wonld not have had a
merciful judge in her.
Palmer returned in the spring. He had been
very successful, and added another five
hundred towards the payment uf his debt, real
izing, with a pain at his heart, how slow the
work must be.
There was a little talk of marriage, and he
told Rjsamond as much of the truth as it was
necessary for her to know, and offered her her
lreedom, since it must be some time before he
would be able to marry.
“It is very sensible in him,” said Mrs. Willis,
when she heard it. “And Rosamond, I shonld
take him at his word. He certainly has grown
queer about some things. Mr. Gnmmings said
there was no need of his giving np his business,
as he did a year ago, and taking a position no
higher than a clerkship. You can do mnch bet
ter. ”
Rosamond had loved him very much, she
thought. Bnt if he was going to give np his
ambition, and his prospects of being rioh, for
the sake of a few whims, perhaps it would be
as well for her to mercise a little judgment.
And when, a-jwtth later, she had a very ad
vantageous offer, she sent back her diamond
engagement ring.
“The end of a woman's love,” Palmer said to
himself, with a little sigh.
For her sake he had been mad enongh to sin, to
risk the reputation of years. She would never
know it, to be sure—the knowledge might have
made her more tender—but he had no mind to
run the risk.
He knew of only one woman grand enough to
forgive it.
Eleanor heard of the rupture, and Rosamond’s
speedy marriage. She was disappointed in that
Palmer neither wrote nor came. Daily she asked
herself what she was hoping for. Already she
had refused a wealthy suitor, to her sister’s cha
grin. It was not then that she cared particular
ly about marriage, bnt she was becoming qnite
a favorite with society, growing younger and
prettier every day.
An unlooked-for accident recalled Palmer.
An nncle died and left him a thousand
pounds. He heard that Miss Kenneth had
gone to Tower Point, and followed her thither.
It was a cool evening, late ia August.
Afire of logs was blazing on the hearth of
the music-room, aad diffused a subtle fragrance
as well as warm'th. Nearly every one had left
the house, as the season had come to a sadden
and chilly ending.
The summer had been rather gay, and she
wanted to finish it with a week or two of quiet.
Palmer arrived quite late. He Bnatched a
hurried supper.
“How surprised Miss Kenneth will be to see
you,” Mrs. Alcott said. “We were talking of
you this afternoon, and the accident, when you
were here before.”
So she did not forget him, then.
“It seems only yesterday,” he returned, “and
yet a great deal has happened since then. Has
she gone to her room?” he asked, as he rose
from the table.
“I think not. I heard the piano a few mo
ments ago.”
He passed through the hall, and tapped light
ly at the door, then entered. Eleanor was
standing in front of the fire, tall, stately, yet
gracious, looking so simply sweet, that he re
alized how incomplete his life was without her.
But he had no right to sentiment then, or
ever. In her heart, no doubt she despised him.
She broke the awkward spell with a little
commonplace, talk and presently he told his
erran .
“I might have guessed,” she said, rather sadly,
he thought. Then with a sudden vehemence,
she added: “I wish this business between ns
was at an end.”
“Heaven knows I wish so, tool Are yon re
penting yonr good deed 7”
Her faoe was scarlet.
“I did not mean that,” she returned, slowly.
“Only it seems as if there ought to be some
thing better in the world, in one’s thoughts,
than money.”
He smiled rather bitterly.
“Let ns get over the unpleasantness, as soon
as possible,” she said, in a fashion quite now
to her, for she was usually se calm.
With that, she brought her portfolio. He be
gan to tell her of his good fortnne, wrote a lit
tle, glancing up between the worda. If she
conld have cared for him—if he oonld have
gone back to the old Summer, bnt then he was
bound. Every thing went awry in this world,
he believed.
She took the old note and the new one, twirl
ed them nervously in her fingers, tore them up
presently, and threw them in the blase.
He was watching her, aa the oolor came nnd
went in her faoe.
“Oh, what have yon done ?’*
She knew then, and gave an embarrassed
laugh. It was foolish and useless, bat she felt
that she loved this man, and with it came the
consciousness that he loved her.
“I oan soon remedy it,” and he reached for
the pen.
“Oh," she declared vehemently, “it is like
wringing your heart’s blood ont, drop by drop!
It is taking the best years of yonr life. When
it is ended yon will hate me for laying snch a
harden epoa von, if yoa do not before.”
“Hate yon, Miss Kenneth t If I dared I shonld
go down on my knees in this very place and
worship yon as an angel ? If I were a free man,
and if yon conld forget—”
To come so near happiness, and then find this
hatefal bar between. She tnrned impatiently,
her faoe scarlet, her lips quivering.
“ I don’t want to ask for the hope. If yon
never smile upon me again, if you forbade me
yonr presence. Heaven knows that I shonld be
honest and upright to my latest moment That
wonld be yonr reward for having reached ont
yonr hand to save one bnman sonl. I must love
yon always, forever.”
Of course propriety demanded that she must
wait and keep silence—the whole world would
be shocked at any other proceeding. So she
must shut herself out of years of happiness as a
reward for that one generous impulse. The fire
seemed to flioker before her, the lights grew
dim, and she stretched forth her hands.
Palmer seized them and covered them with
kisses, came nearer and took her in his
arms. 1 think neither could have told just
what was said, but they felt that they
belonged to one another, and that their
secret would be one of the tenderest of
bonds to bind them together.
Mrs. Gale was very much surprised.
“But Palmer is a splendid business man,”
said her hnfcband, “though with a few queer
crotchets in his brain. We will soon have him
on the high road to fortnne again.”
Bnt to both Palmer and Eleanor there seemed
a higher and truer purpose to life than mere
money getting. She had saved him in the best
sense of the word, and was never to be ashamed
of her work.
THE GHOST
—OF THE —
MALMAISON.
AN EPISODE OF FRENCH HISTORY
Translated, from the French for the Scnnt South
BY CHABLES GAILMABD.
[Most of the characters in this story are not fictitious,
bnt real personages who took conspicuous parts in
some of the most important events which occurred during
the rebellion of the Westof France—called Cluruannerit.]
CHAPTER CIV.
Gabrielle threw herself into her brother’s
arms, but he pushed her back so.tiv.
“Tell me all about it,” he said, “1 must know
all that has happened. How did yon find out
where was that ?”
“A woman told me where he lived,” interrup
ted Gabrielle, “a woman who was in the house
to which he brought me from Tivoli. I went
there; she had given me the name of the street
and the way to enter. He is concealed in
the ”
“Don’t tell me anything of it; I cannot, I will
not know anything about him. But when was
that? It must have been after our conversa
tion.”
“Yes, brother, I had promised to give you an j
answer to-day, and God knows that had I been j
sure he was dead, I wonld have been ready to do |
what pleases yon, but I wanted to know my ]
fate.” i
“I (So not ask you what yoa said, only tell me
what time it was when you left him ?”
“About twelve, I believe.”
“That’s it,” muttered the officer.
“What do you say ?” asked Gabrielle, anxious- j that.
place in the city- I had promised yon the truth,
I have told it to yon. I deplore the fatal circum
stances that put you in contact with a conspir
ator, but I have not the courage to address yon
any reproach, and I will not speak to yon about
your marriage with Perlier, until yon shall have
mastered this unfortunate passion and be dis
posed to listen to reason.”
“Bnt what will beoome of him?” insisted
Gabrielle.
‘His fate will be that whioh is awaiting those
who fight against their country, and to that fate
—terrible as it is—he will Bobmit with courage,
for he is brave. What a misfortune that he did
not follow a better cause f I tried to bring him
to it. and if I oonld have saved him I would
have done so.'
“It is not too late yet,’ qnickly said the young
girl.
Robert did not answer, but shook his head.
‘And it is in yonr power to save him from the
scaffold,' added Gabrielle. ‘Listen to me to the
end, and you will see that I am right. He is
ready to die for his king, and yon know that he
will not betray his cause;but be understands that
this cause is now lost. He can now qnit fight
ing, since the war is virtually ended. He prom
ised me that he wonld not take arms any mora
against onr country, and would consent to live
peaceably in a foreign land.’
‘This wonld be very well if he were ont of
France,’ sadly said the Mwjor, ‘bat how conld he
leave. ’
‘Yon can help him in that,’ risked Gabrielle.
Francois Robert colored, rose from his seat
and said sternly: ‘Yon certainly do not mean to
ask me to forget my duty and betray my oath as
a soldier ! Passion blinds you; I forgive you,
but know that—should I be disposed to do such
a thing, it is not in my power. Cadoudal’s case
is now in the hands of justice, and nothing can
stop it.’
‘I know it; I know too that the condemnation
of him I love is certain; bnt it is his life that I
want to save, and for that he only needs a pass
port to go ont of Paris. ’
‘And do yon dare to aek me for snch a pass
port ?’
‘Yes, brother, I ask it from you who are so
good, and who will not bring me to despair.’
‘I have no authority to deliver passports, and
shonld I have it, I would not use it in favor of
that man.'
‘Maybe a simple permission to cross the
gates would do ?’
‘Neither passport nor authority. Nobody can
go out of Paris now, and you must not imagine
that my simple name would open the way for
him.’
‘But, still your soldiers pass every day.’
‘Yes, when their service calls them out, but
for this they must be in uniform, and besides,
have a card with their name and number upon
it. Yesterday my own Adjutant was obliged to
show his twice to go to Maimaison, where I had
sent him.’
‘Then he has one of those cards?’
‘Of course; I have one too, so has each of the
officers.
‘Then I was right! Charles can be saved !’ ex
claimed Gabrielle.
‘Is it seriously that my sister proposes to me
such a treachery ?’
‘Yes, and I do not blush for it; no more need
you my brother blush if you shonld accord
what I ask. It is the life of a brave, true man,
that we save.’
•Well, dear Gabrielle, if I should listen
to your prayer, I would be tried by a court mar
tial and be expelled from the army, besides hav
ing five years of bard labor in the penitentiary?
Do you insist yet? Do you prefer this chouans
life to yonr brother’s honor ?’
Gabrielle bent her head, and kept silent, but
tears ran down her cheeks.
‘Speak, I make you the judge of this,’ said
her brother; ‘ have I done enough for the man
j who saved my life, or must I still give up for
! him my name and reputation as a French offi-
| oer?’
No, no !’ answered Gabrielle, * I do not ask
But the success of the substitution is cer-
concealed ?’
‘Is it a crime to help an obscure soldier to re
tire from the battle-field where he is sure to die!
Charles Valreas is ready to put down his arms;
you can spare an enemy who surrenders and—’
‘ What is that you say ? an obscure soldier!
I will tell yon the true name of the man you
wane me to save. He is no less than Coster de
Saint Victor, the chief lieutenant of Georges
Cadoudal, and, after his chief, the most dan
gerous of all the chouans.’
‘ Saint Victor ! you say his name is Saint Vic
tor?’ exclaimed Gabrielle, startled by that ter
rible revelation. ‘It is impossible! Then
Charles has deceived me! .Who told you his
name was Saint Victor?’
1 Himself. I even think that he boasted of it.’
4 Ah !’ muttered the young girl, ‘ I read that
name ut the top of the list of proscriptions, with
out knowing it was his. Then he is lost?’
‘ I have already told you so.’
‘ And, if captured, there is no mercy for him!'
‘No more than for his General; Bonaparte
himself could not save him. Anyhow, this
Saint Victor is too proud to accept a pardon
from him whom he calls the usurper.’
•You see there, that you—only you—can save
him, by giving him the card of your adjutant.’
‘That is to say by disgracing myself. Never!’
•You refuse to listen to my prayers?’
‘Altogether, and positively.’
•Then I have only to to die!’ ^murmured
brielle.
Ga-
jy_ i tain, and no one wonld ever know that you had
“I say that you were watched, and that by | a hand in it.
following you, a man of Fouche’s police ha.s * I® if m y father s daughter who advises me to
found out the hiding place of that chouan," ex- commit a crime, because that crime will remain
claimed Fraacoise Robert
“You think this?”
“Yes; two hours—one hour—after you left
him he came in here. He was running before
a detective who was after him, and he tried to
escape by jumping again into the river Seine. ”
“Oh, how nnfortnnate I am !” cried Gabrielle,
“I have killed him.”
“No. This time as before be was not drowned,
but be is lost, nevertheless,” said the Major.
“Lost,” repeated Gabrielle.
“Yes, lost,” emphatically said the Major. “Lis
ten to me, Gabrielle, I assure you I say nothing
but the truth. It was on the quay d’Orsay; that
man saw me sitting by my window, and he
came to ask me to conceal him, and ”
“And yon refused ?” interrupted the young
girl, “you rejected his prayer?”
“Whom do you take me for, Gabrielle? I
could have had him arrested, but did not doit.”
“Ah !I knew yon were always the noblest and
most generous of men.”
“Those are big words for a simple act, said
Robert, I was under obligations to him, re
member. Occasion presented itself to pay my
debt of gratitude; I paid it, and now we are
square.”
“But what has transpired between you? what
did he tell you ?”
“Nothing concerning yon, and very little con
cerning himself. He entered my room like a
bnmb shell, and I was so bewilldered to hear
him ask my protection that I did not even en
quire whence he had oome nor whither he was
going.”
“But you recieved him, you concealed him ?”
“I had a great mind to pnthim out, but while
we were talking the detective who had tracked
him knocked to the door and claimed his chouan.
He had seen him enter and knew he was there.
The detective is the same who was with us on
the road to Maimaison.”
“Then he must have recognized him and he
will pursue him until he captures him. ”
“All I can tell you is that he did not take him
in my room. I treated him as he deserves, and
he did not stay there long.”
“But what became of—Aim?” *
“The chouan, yon mean ? I led him to a cellar
with a door opening on me de Lille, I gave him
the key. He remained there for the rest of the
day, and when night came he went off. ” _
“ Thank you, Francois, thank you for him—for
me!’
“Do not thank me; I have done what honor
commanded. Bnt I think I put myself in a
delicate position towards Foncbe. Half an hoar
later the same detective with a force of police
came baok and they wanted to search the whole
garrison. I opposed it and threw them all in
the Btreet Then I went to see Fonche. Wer
had a stormy conversation, and he will certainly
denounce me to Bonaparte; but the General
knows my devotion to him, and I believe I am
safe. Only I suppose I will never be employed
any more against the chouans."
“God be praised for it!’’exclaimed Gabrielle.
“As an evidenee of what I said. I oan tell
yon that last night a body of troops, taken from
my own regiment, were Bent to snrronnd
Georges Cadoudal’s house, and a Captain was
the Commander. As for me I do not know yet
exaotly what has transpired there. Yon see
that in spite of all I have done for him, he ban-
net fail to be oaptnred, for bis lodging plaoe is
oertainly known to the deteotive who pursued
him, and he must be wandering from plaoe to
CHAPTER CV.
These words were spoken by Gabrielle, so
simply her eyes reflected such an irrevocable
determination, that the Major conld not help
sighing- He had an almost paternal affection
for his sister, and a father cannot hear, unmov
ed, his child speak of dying. The paleness
and submission of Gabrielle, had more effect
upon him, than her tears. Still, he did not
want to yield, and he nndertook to persnade
her, that even if he should consent to her re
quest, it would not save St. Victor.
‘Gabrielle,’ said he, ‘you are pitiless. I nev
er expected that yon would place me in the
painful alternative, either to disgrace myself
or abandon you to the blind infatuation, that
has taken hold of yonr heart. How can yon be
so cruel, as to threaten me with your death, if
‘I shall not kill myself,’interrupted Gabrielle.
‘God forbid. It is not suicide, bnt sorrow, that
will kill me.’
4 What matters it? if yon are lost for me; for
me who have no other in thiB world. I love you
so mnch, Gabrielle, that I doubt if I could have
the courage to refuse you. To foroe you to live
I might have committed an act for which I wonld
have despised myself. But supposing that I
wonld consent to let a chouan have the card of a
brave soldier, how oonld I give it to him ? Yon
know that he cannot go baok to his plaoe of con
cealment’
* I know it’
4 Then where to find him ? How to give him
the card ?’
4 Ah ! I find again yonr good heart {’exclaimed
Gabrielle, 4 1 knew well that, except in a case of
absolute impossibility—’
‘ It is trne, I conld not resist yon,’ said Robert
who thonght he was getting ont of the difficulty!
* if I oonld know where he is—’
•Thank yon, thank you,’said Gabrielle, weep
ing for joy, • I shall not abuse your kindness
by asking you another oonsent; I only want to(