Penny Blood Serial Fiction — page 154: what you’re looking at

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

‘LADY BESS’S HISTORY 137 sented to him that uf he really entertained toward me the -devoted passion which he had professed, it was cruel to a degree to expose me to the chance of falling into the hands of the captain-general’s troops. He bade me fear not, for that an incessant lookout would be kept, and on the first appearance of one of the flying columns in that immediate neighbourhood, it was his intention to remove with his band into the wild fastnesses of the Pyrenees, where they could remain until the present danger should be over. At the same time Don Diego assured me that if the peril became more serious than he could at that moment anticipate, he would at once send me under safe and honourable escort into Franee. He availed himself of that opportunity to fall upon his knees again in my presence, vowing that if I would consent to become his companion for the rest of our lives, he would at once take leave of his associates and fly awav with me into another country. But still did I persevere in my refusal, for | was prepared to encounter all risks and meet all dangers, rather than surrender myself up to one whom I did not love. ‘“‘ For several days Don Diego himself, disguised in various garbs, penetrated to a distance to learn tidings relative to the movement of the captain-general’s troops; and one eve- ning, on his return to the tower, he brought intelligence of such importance that a council of the whole band was immediately called. In these deliberations the women were accustomed to be present, and on this occasion I was amongst them. I had already picked up the Spanish language with the utmost facility, though I could not converse in it with the same fluency and accuracy as I could in the French tongue. I nevertheless understood all that was said in my presence. It appeared from what Don Diego reported, that one of the flying columns was at a distance ~ of about ten miles from the tower, and that it was com- manded by a brigadier-general, to whom the son of the captain-general was attached as aide-de-camp. It further appeared that the ofhcers had fixed their quarters at a little farmhouse, the occupants of which experienced a devoted friendship for Don Diego Christoval. At the council which sat to deliberate upon these particulars, a bold and daring project was started by Christovai himself. This was nothing less than to make a midnight attack upon the farmhouse, ECORVICLOOO cs (S(O)