The Argosy — page 100: what you’re looking at

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

292 THE ARGOSY, ‘* You are Lieutenant Petrovitch ?’’ he asked. ‘ Yes,’’ and I told him my errand. ~ Have you been engaged in a duel this morning? ”’ I stared at the man and asked him what he meant. His answer showed © what story had been’concocted to trick Olga. ‘A gentleman engaged two rooms here this morning, saying they would be wanted in connection with a duel in the neighborhood. One of the com- batants was Lieutenant Petrovitch, and the latter’s sister was coming to be near at hand in case of her brother being hurt. She was coming out with the brother’s servant, and when she arrived was to be shown at once to the room engaged for her. As a fact the duel had already been fought in the early hours; Lieutenant Petrovitch had been badly wounded and lay ata private house a few miles further on, too ill to be moved. ‘The sister was to be told this, the news being broken gradually, and she was not to be allowed to leave the inn, unless she insisted very much, in which case the servant would know where to take her; and fresh horses were to be supplied. ‘I told her gently,’’ continued the landlord, ‘‘and she insisted on going on at once without even stopping for food. Fresh horses were put in accordingly, and the carriage went on, with less than half an hour’s halt here, all told.’’ I saw the ruse in a moment. It was to get fresh horses without Olga being suspicious, and to draw in the landlord to appear to give the story cor- roboration. ‘‘ What was the man like who came to you?’”’ I asked impatiently, order- ing a horse to be saddled instantly. Inreply the landlord described Devinsky accurately. ! I saw it all now; and when the man had given mea valuable clue to the road which the carriage had taken—it had been met by some returning post- boys—I set off again in pursuit in the now gathering dusk, as fast as I could make the new horse move. I rode on till darkness fell; and still on till the moon rose and flooded the land with her thin light; and it was not until ten at night that I reached the - end of my journey. Some peasants gave me the final clue. ‘They had met the carriage and a question had been asked of them as to the whereabouts of a certain house. They told me now where this was, and a few minutes later I reached the place. It was an old, ramshackle structure, once the seat of a family of good position, but now fallen upon evil days. It made three sides of a square and the courtyard in the middle was all weed grown, moss covered and uneven, with one large yew tree standing dark and gloomy in the center. ‘he main entrance was in the middle portion, and there were two small gothic arched doors in the wings. But these seemed very stout as I examined them; and all the windows were latticed with ironwork. Just the spot for such a venture as this, I thought, as I stole about the place to reconnoiter, treading softly, and keeping as much as possible in the dark shadows. which the walls made. There was not a sound to be heard, nora light to be seen, while the look of the place made it certain that I should have a hard task to force my way Eomicbooks com i So.