Belle-Rose — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

“THE FALCONER’S SON. 13 “One word. Do you know in the neighborhood a family of honest people with whom I can spend the time until your return without awakening suspicions. ’”’ ‘‘l know ten such, but there is one above all which will meet your requirements, Leave this wood, follow the path on which I met you, take the main road, and stop before the first house you come across to your right. You will recognize it easily. Everything is open, doors and win- dows. You will be at my father’s, Guillaume Grinedal’s, just as if you were at home.”’’ ‘‘Diable! but I will be quite comfortable there,’’ said the stranger, with asmile. ‘‘Go now.”’’ He withdrew his hand which rested upon the curb, and the horse started. A quarter of an hour after, the stranger entered the garden of Guillaume Grinedal. At the sight of a stranger, the falconer laid down a long pistol which he was polishing and rose to meet him. ‘“What do you wish?’’ he said to him. ‘‘Hospitality. ’’ ‘Enter. WhatlIhaveis yours. If you are hungry you shall eat, if you are thirsty you shall.drink, and poor though I am, I always have a bed for the honest trav- eler.’’ , Saying which, Pere Guillaume uncovered his forehead; his honest countenance, furrowed by toil, preserved an ex- pression of dignity which made him appear above his con- dition. & ‘‘T thank you,’’ said the stranger; ‘‘my visit -will be short. When your son shall have returned I will leave.’ Guillaume questioned him with a look. ‘‘Oh,’’ continued his guest, “‘he runs no danger. Before the moon rises he will have returned. I am a merchant from Arras going to Lille on business; the country is un- safe, and I thought that your son might more successfully than myself charge himself with a valise left in the hands of my valet at Witternesse. One cannot take too many precautions in the times in which we live.”’ ‘You are right,’’ said the falconer, when they had ar- rived in the middle room of the house, ‘‘we live in a time when it is necessary to surround one’s self with precau- tions. But in the house of an honest man there is no need for them; therefore, my gentleman, do not trouble your- self to disguise your language and your manners. ’’ At these words, the stranger trembled. **T. do not ask you your quality and your name,’’ contin- ued the falconer. ‘‘The guest is sacred; his secret is like ((0) Gomicbooks