A Gentleman from Gascony: A Romance of the Huguenots — page 206: what you’re looking at

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

202 A GENTLEMAN FROM GASCONY, The first danger was passed. As soon as he dared, he spurred on his steed, and was soon clattering away at full speed southward. All day long he rode, the good horse seeming to know no such thing as fatigue. Truly this mare, in whose veins ran the blood of Arab ancestors, was a striking contrast to the rawboned animal with which Raoul had set forth from Puycadére. She seemed to know the love her master had con- ceived for her, and to be resolved to leave nothing undone to merit it. Raoul stroked her sleek neck and baptized her Spe- ranza in honor of the goddess of Hope, at whose shrine he was then a devout worshipper. ; That day and the next were productive of no unto- ward events, and by nightfall of the second day they had reached the village of Seuil, not twenty miles away from La Rochelle, their final destination. Here the chevalier determined to remain until the morrow. It would have been impossible to reach the city before the closing of the gates, and besides he was not willing to tax further the splendid animal that had carried him so well. The inn of the town was clean and neat, and kept by a bright-faced, merry little woman who reminded De Puycadére strongly of his good friend of Saint Germain, Madame Rose Goujon, whose kindhearted- ness almost atoned for the wretched qualities of her miserable, unworthy husband. After an excellent supper, the king’s messenger stretched himself in a corner of the fireplace with a flask of good Rhenish at his elbow. The room rapidly filled up with the villagers, until it Was crowded almost to overflowing. All seemed un- Comicbooks (E(@) i iat