Belle Rose: A Romance of the Cloak and Sword — page 184: what you’re looking at

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

170 A SOUL IN PAIN. the lackeys was killed and Cornelius dismounted. The superiority of numbers was on the side of the assailants. Madame de Chateaufort wrung her hands in despair. Upon the ground where Belle-Rose was fighting, she no longer saw anything except a group of men surrounded by smoke where shone the glitter of swords. Her frightened eyes were turning to heaven, when at the turn of the wood she perceived a company of cavalisrs who were ap- proaching ata walk. Genevieve whipped her mare and hastened toward them. CHAPTER XXIV. A SOUL IN PAIN. Those who rode at the head of this company were mag- nificently dressed. In a second Genevieve was before them. She was quivering with anger and terror; the blood of the man whom she had killed had spurted out upon her dress, and her hand still held the smoking pistol. “There is a French officer here who is being assas- sinated, messieurs,’’ she said to them. ‘‘Friends or ene- mies, if you are gentlemen, you will save him.”’ The one who seemed the chief of the band made a sign of the hand, an officer rode away at a gallop with the soldiers of the escort, and Madame de Chéateaufort fol- lowed him. It was time for this reinforcement to inter- vene. Déroute was wounded and extended on the ground, his leg under his horse. Belle-Rose, also dismounted, was defending himself with the stump of his sword whose blade had remained in the body of a cavalier; his clothes were perforated in twenty places and reddened in three or four. Of the two lackeys, one was dead the other had his head split open. Cornelius and Pierre were struggling in the midst of three or four bandits infuriated against them. Old Guillaume was lying upon a soldier whom he had killed just as the soldier was going to strike Belle-Rose. Grippard was finishing poniarding a Swiss whom he had overcome. Old Guillaume was the only one who had suc- ceeded in breaking through the troop of Burk. The father had come todie near the son. The officer’s hussars sur- rounded the combatants and forced them to quit fighting. All were bruised and Monsieur de Villebrais’ face was covered with blood. At sight of the officer who caused the swords to be returned to their scabbards, he grew pale GOomicboo Ss (Ee 3