Belle Rose: A Romance of the Cloak and Sword — page 322: what you’re looking at

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

304 THE CHEVALIER D’ARRAINES. ‘Certainly. But, in fact, you do not know the half of what has taken place. Monsieur de Charny’s narrative lacks a dénouement. Itis quite a story, monseigneur!”’ The coolness of Monsieur de Pomereux stupefied Mon- sieur de Louvois; he swallowed a glass of water and came near breaking the goblet as he set it back on the table. ‘‘Do you wish me to relate it to you?’’ continued the young gentleman. ‘*Relate, but make haste,’’ replied Monsieur de Louvois, striking the floor with his shoe-heel. “Oh! it will not take long! Figure to yourself, then, that after having quitted Monsieur de Charny at Pontoise, Ihave gone to the Prince de Condé’s at Chantilly. The prince has always been kind to my family; we havea thousand proofs of it which I could cite.’’ ‘*Pass over them.’’ ‘So be it; this narrative would wound my modesty. I had expressed to him my desire to enter his household; it so happened that a post of captain of the hunts was vacant; he has offered it to me, I have accepted it, and yesterday morning I entered on my functions. ’”’ Monsieur de Louvois was walking the room, his eyes afiame and his brows contracted. ‘This morning,’’ Monsieur de Pomereux tranquilly con- tinued, ‘‘the Prince de Condé has sent me to Paris to ter- minate certain affairs which particularly concern him. You understand that if I accept your offer of going to the Bastile, with the object of justifying myself, the affairs of the prince will suffer from it. Now, my interests ought to be secondary, I believe, to his. The Prince de Condé is a prince of the blood, monseigneur.”’ Monsieur de Louvois walked the room like a wild beast; anger swelled his bosom. All at once, the idea struck him that Monsieur de Pomereux, whose audacity he knew, sought to deceive him in order to gain time. ‘“‘Your history is a tale, my honest cousin!’’ he ex- claimed, covering him with his sparkling glance. ‘‘Ah! you think so,’’ said Monsieur de Pomereux, ‘‘ well, look!’’ Monsieur de Pomereux nonchalantly took Monsieur de Louvois by the arm, and: leading him to one of the win- | dows of the apartment which gave upon the court of the hotel, he pointed out to him with the finger a carriage which was waiting. Thelivery was the color of that of the prince, and upon the panels of the carriage was to be comicbooks.com