Belle-Rose — page 168: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE CONFESSION OF A MAGDALEN. 157 mission of this woman there was something queen-like which commanded obedience. He was silent and waited. ‘‘] was fifteen,’’ she resumed, ‘‘when I saw Mousieur d’Assonville for the first time. The wars of the Fronde were then staining France with blood. I was living with my mother, a Spanish woman allied to the family of the Medinas, in a chateau near Ecouen.’ ‘a | know it,’’ said Belle-Rose. ‘One evening as I was walking by myself in the park, I heard the noise of musket-shots in the neighborhood; fear seized me, and I began to run in the direction of the — chateau. All at once, at a turn in the path, an officer presents himself to me; he was pale, frightened, bloody. ‘Save me,’ he said to me, in a dying voice, and he rolled over at the foot of atree. <A short distance off was to be heard the trampling of a troop of horsemen. I rushed to the little gate of the park; but it was too late—the chief of the band had perceived me. ‘¢* Have you seen an officer?’ said he. “God inspired me with the courage to lie. ‘¢ ‘No,’ 1 resolutely answered, ‘I heard the firing and ran _ up to close the gate.’ While speaking I felt myself swooning, but my eyes did not quit the chevalier. ‘¢«TMhen you are not afraid?’ said he. ‘©¢ Afraid! Iam the daughter of Monsieur de La Noue, who is a good gentleman.’ 2 ‘Well! he belongs to our party,’ said the cavalier, and he plunged into the wood. ‘When the troop had disappeared, I shut the gate and returned to the officer, whom I found upon the grass. He was busy stanching the blood which came from his wounds. ‘‘¢¥ou have nothing more to fear,’ I said to him. ‘If you can still walk, lean upon me, and I will aid you to gain a pavilion which is not far from here.’ “The officer arose, and, after many efforts, we reached this pavilion, which was then inhabited. ‘‘Monsieur d’Assonville told me that you saved him,’ interrupted Belle-Rose ‘And did he also tell you that I had loved him?’? Belle-Rose bowed. ‘“‘His wounds were numerous, but not at all grave,’’ re- sumed Madame de Chateaufort. ‘‘With the aid of my nurse and her husband, who were devoted to me, I was able to conceal and protect Monsieur d’Assonville, My EomiGcboo cS €o