Beadle's Dime Library No. 157 — page 17: what you’re looking at

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

—<$—$ $e er —— — They come close to him, and he whispered in a low tone: ' “Don’t start. Don’t exclaim. The general is in France.” But for his warning. it is certain that the maitre d’ armes would have shouted for joy. As it was, he turned purple in his efforts to restrain himself, and crammed his handkerchief down his throat till he was nearly choked. St. George, more self-contained in his nature, yet uttered a deep sigh of relief. “And itis you, my brother, that brings the news,” he murmured almost inaudibly. “‘ Thank the good God!” Here Lafangere coughed and _ spluttered, ulled out the handkerchief and hugged the Mametake like a bear, repeating: ‘In France! In France! It is too good to be true,” St. George, on his part, looked at Mourad very closely and whispered: ‘*Tell us all about it. How did you get in?” ‘*T came in at the door, and the concicrge was so frightened that he nearly fainted. ore- nae to understand no French, and pushed my way past him toe your room, and he has been watching outside, under the idea, I sup- pose, that I am a savage, come to murder every one in the house. I wonder he bas not gone out to call the patrol.” ‘‘In that case we'd better tranquilize his mind,” observed amperes, rising. ‘He may call the patrol now, and we don’t want to see = one but ourselves to-night.” e went out to the corridor and found the poor concierge shivering with cold and terror. ‘Ob, monsieur, has he hurt you? Who is this barbarian? See what he did.” And the concierge showed bim the rail of the balustrade, cloven in half by a clean cut of the meluke’s saber. ‘* Had J been in the way he would have taken my head off, Iam sure; and yetI only asked him to get out.” Lafangere laughed. ‘**He did that to frighten you. This isa very ble Turkish gentleman, a priest of their religion.” “Eh, mon Dieu f a priest! If their priests are like that what are their soldiers? And people say our men are fighting these monsters in Egypt, and that they have killed the brave young General] Bonaparte, who used to lodge in my house in 95, monsieur. Yes, itis true, He lodged here, with his adjutant, Junot, and many a time have they been without a dinner in those days. ButI don’t want to see him killed, for the general was always a man.” ‘Fear not, my friend,” answered Lafangere. “*They can’t kill General Bonaparte so easily. Now go downstairs. Our Turkish friend will hurt no one, for be is smoking his pipe.” The concierge went down-stairs, comforted: and Lafangere came back, when Mourad at once began his story; ‘You remember when I left you here?” “Surely. And yet if was not necessary.” “It was best, my friends. You see I am ‘like a fish out of water, here in Paris. I was a French gentleman as a child, and, after that, a soldier under orders in Egypt, and this liberty and equality are strange tome. Besides, there is always a difficulty with us in Paris. ere cannot be two St. Georges; and a Mameluke is nowhere among French. It was best for me to return to Egypt and take the general the letters from Madame.” ‘* How did you succeed ?” “Toamarvel. Isailed for Naples asa French merchant, and in Naples I took the character of a Turk, going to Smyrna ‘for figs. I was not stapes and landed at Smyrna, where I pro- cured a horse and arms, and made my way to the general.” 3 ‘‘ Where did you find him?’ “In Syria, at ait and I gave him the or letters and oy eg a& company of Mamelukes, that he has ded to the Guides. He gave me my commission as Mourad, and from ceforth Adrian St. George vanishes from the official record.” A i“ Well, what next. Were you at Acre?” “‘Was he hurt there?” ‘“‘No. Who says so?” “There was a ” “Tt was all a lie: But that fellow, Djezzar, foiled us, for we had no siege ‘y, and the Turks, backed by that Englishman, ir Smeet, whom we left tied up in own cabin, kept 8 pouring in reinforcements by the sea. een eer eae se id you ck to Egyp ‘* Yes. ore eTarks, always Turks, came in while we were away, and we bad not a single man of reinforcements. At last we had them before us at Aboukir, in the very place where the English took fleet, and we killed them all or drove them into the sea. Then, when we had beaten all our enemies and any fool could keep Egypt, that devil, Sir Smeet, he sent us of papers, and the ie eral learned how those fools of Directors had lost Italy. That night he made up his mind to ee and he took me with him, He is now at rejus.' — $e ee — ‘‘ At Frejus? And how came you here?’ “We touched at Corsica on the way and I took a swift sailing boat from there to France with orders to come to Paris and warn you to be ready. The general was to land at Frejus in two days. He is now there and posting for Paris. The English are all in front of Toulon and Marseilles.’ As Mourad finished his story he gave an irre- pressible yawn, “What is it? You are tired?’ exclaimed the maitre d’ armes. ‘‘ How did you tr:;vel?” ‘*T rode by post and I have had no sleep for three days and nights,” answered Mourad quietly. ‘‘In fact I am, I think, tired out. Go and tell Madame. 1—want—to sleep.” As he spoke his head dropped on his breast and he sunk back on the floor where he fell as fast asleep on the hard boards as if he had been on a down couch. St. George looked at him pityingly. ‘‘ Let us carry him to bed, Lafangere.” They took bim to the couch and laid him there, and then the creole said to the Gascon: “Do you watch over him, while I go to tell Madame. Lafangere nodded. “‘Tunderstand. Our work is only beginning now. We have a great deal to do.’ ‘“ Yes, and it is important that no one should know of the general’s arrival till he is well on his way to Paris. These Directors are not much to fight Austrians, but they will not will- ingly relinquish their gripe on the throat of the French people.” He took up his cloak, left the house and hur- ried to the Rue de la Victoire where he knew he would find Madame Bonaparte. It was nearly midnight, but lights were burn- ing in the house and old J acques opened the door to bim. The old man accorded a very different wel- come to the distinguished looking gentleman from that with which he had greeted the bearded ragamuffin who bad sought entrance at Malmaison nearly a year before. “It is you, Monsieur St. George? Come in. Madame expects you.” “Expects me: how?” “Madame will tell you.” He ushered the creole into the salon where Josepbine was quietly reading a book, and she looked up with her charming smile. ‘**T expected you, monsieur,” she said, just as old Jacques had intimated. “* And what made you expect me, madame?” he asked, still puzzled. ‘* Just after you left me at home I went to the salon, intending to retire for the night when I found this on the table.” She showed him a note which he read. It contained only these words: “St. George will call on you at midnight with good news. Movrap.” ‘“‘ Jacques says it was left at the house by a boy, who said it was given him by a Turk who talked French, How is this, and what is your news, monsieur? This Mourad is the third member of your famous trio, is he not?) What has he been doing?’ | ‘‘He has been to Egypt, madame; has seen the general; came back with him to Corsica, and the generalis now in France.” The lady started up, her countenance radiant with joy. ‘‘In France! where? Let me fly to him!” ‘¢ At Frejus to night, madame; but he is post- ing to Paris and cngald be here in three days at the furthest.” ‘“‘ Monsieur St. George, can I ask you a favor, a t favor?” . ‘Certainly, madame.” ‘‘Get me post-horses at once. I must meet the general, I shall not feel safe till I see him once more.” ‘* Tt shall be done at once, madame.” CHAPTER XVIII. GETTING NEWS, Panis was full of .excitement and Oriental fervor. The conqueror of Egypt had come back and had brought a real live Mameluke with him—one Mourad—who dres’ed in a style Paris had never seen before, was able to cut sheep in andy : sin yg a! or ge have at eas y wives in Bey et waited on the general as if he tenn Fat. erever the general went this gorgeous Mameluke was in attendance giving a certain Oriental splendor to every thing around him and reducing to insignificance the most splendid liveries of the repay . There was no limit to the popularity of General Bonaparte, who went bh Sh a and was lionized every corner of Paris as the conqueror of Egypt, who had come back to save France from the Austrians, Madame Bonaparte was no longer snubbed or politely ignored at the Directory but had a circle of admirers wherever she went, while ov the general’s friends were high in place and avor. Murat, who had come from. on his chief’s staff, was G vernor of Paris, Lucien Bonaparte the seneral’s brother had been elect- ___ Mourad, the Mameluke. -_—— —— 1'7 a ————E—E————ee ——— ee ee ee —_—— ed President of the deputies and the new Direct- ors who had come into office were said to be all friendly to Bonaparte, while Monsieur Rewbell, who had gone out, had become President of the Council of the Ancients. : And yet, underneath all the feasting and shouting iu Paris over the return of the hero of Egypt, there was a great deal of jealousy and heart-burning, the deeper because it dared not show itself : ph The old d Republicans, now a feeble minority, distrusted the new man because he was not one of a crowd but indisputably one by himself, The Royalists, who trusted to foreign aid to se the Bourbons baek on the throne of France, eared Bonaparte, because they knew tbat he was certain to beat all the foreign armies that could be brought into France. ' The feeble Directory had played into their hands, but the sere J was certain to spoil all their nice little ns. It was in the midst of these conflicts of feei- ing that St. George and Lafangere, one day, met in the Place de la Concorde. Both were dressed as peaceful citizens and had no trace of the soldier in their appearance. “Well,” observed the Gascon, “I have been through the Faubourg St. Antoine, and the people are in doubt. What have you found among the ‘ Whites ’?” ‘* The ‘ Whites’ are in doubt too, but there is a party in favor of trying the general, on ac- count of Madame.” ““Indeed? Why?’ “* Because she belongs to the old noblesse and has a wonderful influence over the general. They are going to and bribe him?’ ‘Bribe him? With what?’ ‘“‘ With the post of Constable of France, it he will head a Royalist movement.” Lafangere burst out laughing. ‘‘A fine plan truly togive him that which those weak fools have not the power to grant in any event. The people would never stand a king of France again,” ‘*So I think, but there is no harm in letting them think the other way.” “ Why not?’ ‘* Because we want friends, not foes, and every friend gained helps us.” The Gascon looked dissatisfied, ““T don’t like treating with these ‘ Whites.’ They are a lot of old women and worth nothing one way or the other. Iam for the Republic, with Bonaparte for its head, because he will make us respected, and I am weary of sceing the tricolor dragged under the feet of these Austrians.” ‘“Soam J. But I have more news than that.” ‘*Whatis it? Has Mademoiselle Claire found out anything?” ‘‘No. But Mourad has.” ‘Mourad? How?’ ** You know he cannot understand a word of French since he came to Paris,” — Lafangere laughed heartily. “Yes. He plays it well.” “Yet the general sends him everywhere with messages.” “| have noticed that. Why does he do it?” ‘Simple enough. On every letter are writ- ten directions on the outside, and the rascal car- ries a paper entreating all to help the bearer, a Turk, to deliver his m ; of these letters are to Directors, and Mourad has to wait for an answer.” talk before him.” o one fears to talk French be- fore a Turk. So Mourad hears things.” ‘** And what has he heard lately?” e George looked around and lowered his voice, ee are going to try and arrest the cen- eral. Lafangere ; “What for? They dare not. The people would rise to rescue him.” “That is true, unless they can find a good to declare him a traitor plotting against e liberty of France.” ‘Yes. That would be a bad charge. Is it wet don ee rt a I require hel “ wye your help to find out.” ** You shall have it, of course.” ; “ But it will be necessary to assume a - is- guiee, pd to abuse the general. Can you do tha “‘T can do anything when we are together. But where is Mourad, and what has he really found out? Tell me all.” | ‘‘Listen. Last night Mourad took a letter the eral to the five Directors who were n . It was a mere nothing about the defenses of Paris, and had Murat sent it, the messenger would have had to wait in the hall. But you know they are very polite to the gen- eral, and Mourad, havi be tation of stolidity, was admitted to deliver his letter.” “Who were there?” ** All five: Gohier, M Barras, Sieyes and er Ducos. Barras read the letter and threw it on the table, payne: ‘Bah! a mere foolery of that hypocrite, naparte. One comfort— he won’t trouble us long,’ and then he and the <eom S (E| O/(0N(@) (E(0) eee