Belle Rose: A Romance of the Cloak and Sword — page 160: what you’re looking at

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

146 DICE AND CARDS. stump of his sword from the scabbard; ‘‘I have broken this sword, but I will fasten another blade to this guard, and I will strike those who have struck me.’’ ‘Then we can count upon you if we welcome you?”’ ‘‘You can count upon me if you accord me what I ask.’’ ‘¢What is it you desire?’’ ‘Some determined men and the right to lead them wherever I wish, day and night.”’ ‘*You shall have them.”’ ‘Then I am yours.’’ The Duke of Castel-Rodrigo took upapen from the table, wrote some words, and handed the paper to the lieutenant, ‘‘Here is the order, monsieur; now answer, but think of what you say, for as sure as you deceive me, I shall have you hung.’”’ ‘‘Then I have nothing to fear; speak.’’ ‘‘Has Louis XIV. arrived at Charleroi?”’ ‘*He will reach the camp to-morrow.’’ “Does he intend to quit the banks of the Sambre and push on farther?”’ ‘“‘It is believed that the army will abandon its encamp- ment and invade the Spanish possessions, which it has orders to conquer. ’”’ ‘‘We have Douai, Mons, Tournay, Maubeuge, and Ques- noy.”’ ‘These places will hold out three days and will be taken.’’ ‘‘Monsieur,’’ said the duke, ‘‘do you forget that you speak to the governor of the province?”’ | ‘‘T forget nothing; you question me, I answer.’’ “Tf you believe so strongly in the success of the French arms, what, then, do you come to seek among us?”’ ‘‘T have told you—vengeance.”’ ‘ois well, monsieur, withdraw; when I need your services, you shall be informed of it.’’ When they had gone out, Monsieur de Villebrais turned to the officer who accompanied him. ‘‘Have you, monsieur,’’ he said to him, ‘‘in some regi- ment of the army, any of those men who recoil before no undertaking and know how to risk all in the hope of honest gain?’’ ‘‘Unfortunately we have too many of those kind of men. You seek soldiers, you will find bandits.’’ ‘‘Will you, monsieur, conduct me to the quarters of those men?’’ : (eo)