Belle Rose: A Romance of the Cloak and Sword — page 318: what you’re looking at

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

300 THE CHEVALIER D’ARRAINES. always loved her. I have followed many miry paths, car- ried far from her by I know not what indomitable passion, what insatiable desires; but in this existence, she is the only thing which I have surrounded with love and re- spect. She was the drop of dew upon the arid rock, the perfumed flower among the thorns. Poor Gabrielle! When I met her, I was a younger son, having for sole fortune only the cloak and the sword. The Chevalier d’Arraines was not a suitable match for the daughter of the Marquis de Mesle; I loved her, and I told her so without knowing why. Later my brother died; heir to the title and the name, I could almost aspire to her hand; but I was with- out news of her, and it was then that my father sent me to Malzonvilliers. Since that visit, my days have flowed away like water; nothing is left to me except a little foam on the surface. Poor Gabrielle!’’ Having said this, he walked a few steps and then re- turned to Suzanne. ‘*You have assisted at her agony and consoled her suffer- ing,’’ he said to her. ‘‘In joy and in misfortune, come what may, by the sacred name of Gabrielle, I am your friend.’’ This scene in which Monsieur de Pomereux had shown himself in an entirely new light, made a profound impres- sion upon the young people; they separated from the count with deeply touched hearts. “It is a happy day,’’ said Suzanne; ‘‘we have found again one friend and gained another.”’ At some hundred steps from the abbey Monsieur de Pomereux encountered a man who was walking along the road. The fellow examined him very attentively as he passed by. The count, who did not love curious people, started toward him; but the rascal threw himself into a thicket, where he was soon sheltered from all pursuit. ”’ ‘This proves to me that [ was not deceived,’’ Monsieur de Pomereux said to himself. ‘‘I should be much sur- prised if this man was not in the service of Monsieur de Charny.”’ At Ecouen, Monsieur de Pomereux remounted the car- riage which had brought him from Chantilly, and took the road to Paris, giving orders to the postilion to go to Mon- sieur de Louvois’. He had an idea of the weicome which awaited him at the minister’s; but the young count was one of those adventurous minds who take pleasure in vio- lent situations and find a great charm in struggles where life is imperiled. As soon as he had learned of the arrival fa s ( iboo S (E(0) =)