Belle Rose: A Romance of the Cloak and Sword — page 171: 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 Monsieur 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.’’ ‘‘T 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. ‘¢ «Then you are not afraid?’ said he. ‘¢* Afraid! Iam the daughter of Monsieur de La Noue, who is a good gentleman.’ ‘**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. ‘¢*¢You 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 hi this pavilion, which was then inhabited. i ‘Monsieur d’Assonville told me that you saved him,” i: interrupted Belle-Rose. ‘* And did he also tell you that I had loved him?’’ x Belle-Rose bowed. _ His wounds were numerous, but not at all grave,’’ re- - gumed Madame de Chateaufort. ‘‘With the aid of my ‘nurse and her husband, who were devoted to me, I was _ gble to conceal and protect Monsieur d’Assonville, My *. = (E(0) Mmicooo Ss (Cl