Belle Rose: A Romance of the Cloak and Sword — page 270: what you’re looking at

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

254 THE SIEGE OF THE CONVENT. went around the convent; the walls were high, thick, and impenetrable, but Déroute had set out to see what could be seen, even if he did not penetrate inside the convent. “If Madame d’Albergotti is in the convent, she must sometimes walk in the gardens; let there be a little corner where 1 can conceal myself, and I will manage to see her,’’ he said to himself. As he was still speaking, he spied a high house provided with a garret, the window ofewhich gave upon the gardens of the convent. The distance which separated the gardens from this window was great; but Déroute had the eyes of alynx. He ran to this house and knocked. It was an old woman who opened the door. ‘*Madame,’’ Déroute said to her, ‘‘you see what I am from my dress; Iam in the employ of some honest people who live near here, in the Rue de Sévres. My employers are in the country, the house is being overhauled, and while waiting for the completion of the task, I am looking out for a room which I can occupy. I have money, madame, and I pay in advance.”’ Upon which Déroute slipped two crowns into the old woman’s hand. ‘‘This comes in just right,’’ replied the old woman; ‘‘we have a pretty cabinet to rent which will suit you wonderfully well.”’ This pretty cabinet was a frightful hole, but Déroute affirmed upon his honor that he had never seen such a charming retreat and so well furnished with all the com- modities of life; he was astonished that such an apartment could be rented for two crowns. The old lady then with- drew, and the honest sergeant having carefully bolted the door, ran to the post of observation. He remained at the window till nightfall and returned the next day at dawn; he only quitted it to swallow a piece of steak which the old woman had prepared for him and which he declared the most succulent in the world. This proceeding lasted three days. Déroute had seen thirty or forty nuns and twenty novices, but not one of them resembled Madame d’Albergotti. Finally, on the fourth day, he perceived a nun whose figure made him tremble at the first step she made upon the terrace. The sergeant leaned out of the window and clapped his hands. The nun turned around, and he recognized her perfectly. ‘To see her was an easy thing—but it was a question of getting her out of the convent, This is what Déroute employed his imagina- tion todo, He began by dispatching his aide-de-camp Gomichbooks (eo) ., =a SEAN VL gees ‘° 3 +e