Honore de Balzac by An Historical Mystery_The Gondreville Mystery Read Free Book Online

punctilios which the peasantry bring
forward when concluding a bargain,—in the midst of assertions and
counter-assertions, the filling and emptying of glasses, the giving of
promises and denials, Violette suddenly fell forward with his head on
the table, not tipsy, but dead-drunk. The instant that Michu saw his
eyes blur he opened the window.
    "Where's that scamp, Gaucher?" he said to his wife.
    "In bed."
    "You, Marianne," said the bailiff to his faithful servant, "stand in
front of his door and watch him. You, mother, stay down here, and keep
an eye on this spy; keep your eyes and ears open and don't unfasten the
door to any one but Francois. It is a question of life or death," he
added, in a deep voice. "Every creature beneath my roof must remember
that I have not quitted it this night; all of you must assert that—even
though your heads were on the block. Come," he said to Marthe,
"come, wife, put on your shoes, take your coat, and let us be off! No
questions—I go with you."
    For the last three quarters of an hour the man's demeanor and glance
were of despotic authority, all-powerful, irresistible, drawn from the
same mysterious source from which great generals on fields of battle who
inflame an army, great orators inspiring vast audiences, and (it must be
said) great criminals perpetrating bold crimes derive their inspiration.
At such times invincible influence seems to exhale from the head and
issue from the tongue; the gesture even can inject the will of the one
man into others. The three women knew that some dreadful crisis was at
hand; without warning of its nature they felt it in the rapid actions of
the man, whose countenance shone, whose forehead spoke, whose brilliant
eyes glittered like stars; they saw it in the sweat that covered his
brow to the roots of his hair, while more than once his voice vibrated
with impatience and fury. Marthe obeyed passively. Armed to the teeth
and with his gun over his shoulder Michu dashed into the avenue,
followed by his wife. They soon reached the cross-roads where Francois
was in waiting hidden among the bushes.
    "The boy is intelligent," said Michu, when he caught sight of him.
    These were his first words. His wife had rushed after him, unable to
speak.
    "Go back to the house, hide in a thick tree, and watch the country
and the park," he said to his son. "We have all gone to bed, no one is
stirring. Your grandmother will not open the door until you ask her to
let you in. Remember every word I say to you. The life of your father
and mother depends on it. No one must know we did not sleep at home."
    After whispering these words to the boy, who instantly disappeared in
the forest like an eel in the mud, Michu turned to his wife.
    "Mount behind me," he said, "and pray that God be with us. Sit firm,
the beast may die of it." So saying he kicked the horse with both heels,
pressing him with his powerful knees, and the animal sprang forward with
the rapidity of a hunter, seeming to understand what his master wanted
of him, and crossed the forest in fifteen minutes. Then Michu, who had
not swerved from the shortest way, pulled up, found a spot at the
edge of the woods from which he could see the roofs of the chateau of
Cinq-Cygne lighted by the moon, tied his horse to a tree, and followed
by his wife, gained a little eminence which overlooked the valley.
    The chateau, which Marthe and Michu looked at together for a moment,
makes a charming effect in the landscape. Though it has little extent
and is of no importance whatever as architecture, yet archaeologically
it is not without a certain interest. This old edifice of the fifteenth
century, placed on an eminence, surrounded on all sides by a moat,
or rather by deep, wide ditches always full of water, is built in
cobble-stones buried in cement, the walls being seven feet thick.
Its simplicity recalls the rough and warlike life of feudal days. The
chateau, plain and unadorned, has two large reddish towers at either
end, connected by a