The Devil on Horseback

I

It was afternoon, just after the midday meal. The household was always sleepy at this time. Most took a siesta, a habit I had never fallen into.

There was a tap on my door, for I was in my bedroom, and when I opened it Armand the groom stood there.

“Mademoiselle,” he said, I have received a message from my master.”

His master? The Comte of course. Hadn’t Armand come with us from the chateaw? Yes, Armand? “

“Monsieur Ie Comte wants you to meet him, and I am to take you to him.”

“When?”

“Now, Mademoiselle. He wants us to leave as quietly as possible. He does not want anyone to know that he is in the neighbourhood.”

“He is in Grasseville?”

“Just beyond the town. Mademoiselle. He is waiting for you there. I have saddled your horse and she is ready in the stables.”

“Give me a moment then and I will change into my riding habit.”

“Yes, Mademoiselle, but I beg of you be quick and let no one know where you are going. These are the Comte’s orders.”

“You can rely on me,” I said, excitement rising within me.

He went. I locked the door and changed hastily. I was lucky and saw no one on the way down to the stables.

Armand looked relieved when he saw me.

“I trust, Mademoiselle …”

“It’s all right,” I said. I saw no one. “

That is well. “

He helped me into the saddle and very soon we were riding out together.

We skirted the town. I scarcely noticed the way we were going, so excited was I at the prospect of seeing the Comte. All my probing into the future of the last few days was being turned topsy-turvy just at the prospect of being with him. How could I possibly contemplate marrying one man when the thought of another set my mind whirling in excitement.

We rode on. I had never been in this direction before. The nature of the countryside had changed. It was hilly and we made our way through rough woodland. Once or twice Armand pulled up sharply. I stopped with him.

He appeared to be listening. There was no sound in the wood but the gentle trickle of a stream somewhere near and the sudden buzz of a bee as it flew past.

Armand nodded, appearing satisfied and prodded his horse.

We came to a small house in the wood. Its stone walls were covered in creeper, and the garden about it was a jungle of overgrown weeds and bushes.

“Is this our destination?” I asked in surprise.

Armand said it was.

“Follow me. Mademoiselle. Well take the horses to the back of the house and tether them there.”

We went round to the back. Whoever lived here could not have tended the garden for more than a year. I looked about for the Comte’s horse, for it must be here since he had chosen it for a rendezvous, but I could see nothing.

It was a gloomy spot and instinctively I shrank from alighting.

“Why,” I asked, ‘did the Comte choose such a place? “

Armand lifted his shoulders as though to say it was not for him to question the Comte’s commands, only to obey them.

He tethered his horse and came to help me alight. I felt a sudden inclination to spur my horse and gallop away from this place. There was something evil about it. Was it because for the last days I had been thinking about the peace of Derringham?

Armand was tying my horse beside his.

“Armand,” I said, “you will come in there with me?”

“But certainly. Mademoiselle.”

It’s such an . unpleasant little place. “

“It is because the overgrown bushes and shrubs make it dark. It is different inside.”

“Whose house is it?”

“It belongs to the Comte Fontaine Delibes, Mademoiselle.”

“How strange that he should own a house here. It is not on his estate.”

“It was a hunting lodge at one time. He has such places all over the country.”

I looked away to the right where a mound of earth rose up from the ground.

“Someone has been digging here recently,” I said.

“I do not know. Mademoiselle. But. look. “

“Oh, it would seem so. Let us go inside.”

“But I want to see this. Look, there’s a hole. It looks-‘ a cold shiver seized me ‘it looks like a grave.”

“Perhaps someone wanted to bury a dog.”

“It is rather big for a dog,” I said.

Armand had taken my arm and drew me to the door. He took a key from his pocket and, opening the door, gave me a gentle push. I was standing in a hall which was dark and a terrible foreboding came to me.

The door shut and I said: “Armand, surely the Comte would not come to a place like this. Where was his horse? If he is already here…”

“It may be that he has not arrived yet.”

I turned to look at him sharply. A subtle change had come over him. I had never taken much notice of Armand before. He had merely been the groom who had come with us from the chateau. Now he looked uneasy . furtive even. Nonsense! I thought quickly. Imagination! He had been in the Comte’s service for many years. It had once been said in Margot’s presence and she had not denied it. He was the Comte’s good servant. It was the atmosphere of this place which was doing something to my imagination. Then that hole outside which had looked like a grave. Someone had been here recently to dig it, I should discover.

Armand had gripped my arm as though he feared I would try to escape.

It was a strange way for a groom to behave.

He pushed me ahead of him. I thought I heard a sound in the house. I looked up. There seemed to be a film of dust everywhere. It looked like a house in which no one lived. Then who had dug the hole in the garden?

I was aware of Armand’s heavy breathing, and suddenly a fearful premonition came to me. I had been brought here to die. The grave in the garden was for me. I had been led into a trap and willingly I had stepped into it. What thoughts can pass through the mind in the space of a few seconds! The Comte had sent one of his servants to bring me here. Why? To kill me? To bury me in that grave in the garden . to leave me there . forgotten. Why? He loved me. He had said so. Did he? How could one know? He had the devil in him, how often had I heard that said of him. He wanted Ursule out of the way and he had killed her. He had wanted to marry Gabrielle who had already given him a son.

Then what of me? I was to be the scapegoat. If I disappeared it would be said that it was I who had put that fatal dose in Ursule’s glass.

Nou-Nou would support that theory. The Comte would be free of suspicion. Oh, nonsense, nonsense! But he had sent for me and I was here in this fearful place where every instinct was telling me that I was staring death in the face.

I turned, looking for escape. Then suddenly a door opened. For a moment my eyes would not look. I do not want to see him. I could not bear that my dream world should come tumbling about my ears. If I was going to die I wanted to die in ignorance, refusing to believe that of which so many people had tried to warn me.

Armand was immediately behind me. I lifted my eyes. Standing in the doorway was a figure . strangely familiar. I just had time to recognize the short neck, the hat with the brim, the dark wig before he sprang forward and seized me. There was a blinding flash and I was lying on the floor. There was an excruciating pain somewhere . I was not sure where . for everything was ebbing away, the evil house, the sinister man who had watched me for so long, my frightening speculation, my own consciousness.

When I opened my eyes I was lying in my old bedroom in the Hotel Delibes. There was cramping pain in my arm, which I realized was bandaged. I tried to struggle up but was immediately giddy and sank back on me pillows.

“Lie still,” said a voice.

“It is better so.”

I did not know the voice but it was soothing.

There was a parched feeling in my throat and almost immediately a cup was put to my lips. I drank something that was sweet and soothing.

That’s better,” said the voice.

“Now lie quietly. It might be painful if you move.”

“What happened to me?” I asked.

“Try to sleep,” was the answer; and so listless did I feel that I obeyed.

When I awoke I saw a woman at my bedside.

“Do you feel better?” It was the same voice as before.

“Yes, thanks. How did I get here? “

“The Comte will explain. He said he was to be called when you awoke.”

“He is here, then?” I felt suddenly joyous.

He was at my bedside. He took my free hand and kissed it. Thank God I set Perigot to watch over you. He did a good job. “

“What was it all about?”

“You came near to death, my darling. That villain would have killed you … and we should never have known what happened. He would have shot you through the heart or the head, which was what he planned to do, and then buried you in that godforsaken place. Why did you go?”

“With Armand, you mean? Why shouldn’t I, when he said he was taking me to you?”

oh my God, I wish I could get my hands on him. But I will, I promise you. “

“But Armand has been in your service for,..”

“In Etienne’s service, I believe. To think that a son of mine . What people will do for lands, title, money . If I never have a son at all he’ll get nothing now. “

“Do you mean that Armand took me there to kill me on Etienne’s orders? ”

“It could only be so. Armand has disappeared. When he realized that someone was in the house to foil his attempt he made off with all speed.”

“And this Perigot?”

A good man. He has been watchful of you. “

A nan with a short neck and a dark wig? “

“I don’t know about his wig, but I suppose, now you mention it, he has a short neck.”

“So you sent him to guard me?”

“Naturally I sent someone to guard you. I didn’t like what had happened on that day when you were fired at in the lane. Perigot did his work well. He followed Armand to the house, saw him dig the grave and guessed what was happening. When he saw you leave from Grasseville with him he made sure he was at the house waiting for you when you arrived. Armand was ready to kill you and would have done so if Perigot had not been ready. So the bullet entered your arm instead of your body. Perigot is upset because he did not overpower Armand before the shot was fired, but he was waiting in the house and could only do what he did. If ever we get back to normal, Perigot shall have lands and wealth for what he has done for me.”

“Armand!” I murmured.

“Why Armand?”

“He must work for Etienne. He was always Etienne’s groom. They were more than master and servant. It was Etienne maybe with his mother’s connivance, and this I shall discover -who arranged for your little adventure in the lane, I am sure. At least that put me on the alert. I was determined to take every precaution. I knew that if I could trust anyone I could trust Perigot. I am going to send for him so that you can thank him personally for saving your life.”

He came into the room. He looked different without his tall hat and wig, much younger and the short neck was less noticeable.

He bowed and I said: Thank you for saving my life. “

“Mademoiselle,” he replied, “I regret I did not save you completely. I fear that you became aware of me, which showed that I did not make myself unobtrusive enough.”

“I couldn’t help but be aware of you when you were always there. And how could you have looked after me so expertly if you had not been?”

The Comte said: “We are both grateful to you, Perigot Your service to us will not be forgotten.”

“It is my duty and pleasure to serve you. Monsieur Ie Comte,” he said.

“I trust it will be so for very many years.”

The Comte was deeply moved and I felt all my fears dropping from me. I wondered why I had ever doubted him but of course that was the effect his presence always had on me.

When Perigot had gone toe Comte sat by my bed and we talked. He said what had happened was clear. Etienne had always hoped to be legitimized and made heir to the estate and title. And so he would have been if there had been no legitimate son.

“Of course,” he said, ‘they know of my feelings for you and he began to be afraid. He guessed rightly that I intend to marry you and if you and I had a son-which we fully intend to do, do we not? his hopes would be completely blighted. Therefore you presented the threat. It’s clear, isn’t it? “

Where is Etienne? “

“He was at the chateau looking after estate duties. Armand will have gone to him to tell him of the failure of their plan. I doubt he is at the chateau now, for he will know that I am fully aware of what he has done. He will never dare show his face to me again. It is the end for Etienne. And now there is only one thing to be done. You and I shall marry without delay.”

I cried out in protest. I thought of my conversations with Joel.

Though I had not promised to marry him I had not completely refused him. How could I go straight to another man and marry him? Besides, when I thought of marriage, fears and doubts raised their heads once more. The Comte was horrified at Etienne’s attempt to murder me, but what of the death of Ursule? Had she not died because she stood in the way of what he wanted, just as I had seemed to stand in Etienne’s way?

“Why not?” he demanded fiercely.

“I am not ready,” I replied.

“What nonsense is this?”

“Not nonsense, sound good sense. I have to be sure.”

“Sure? You mean you are not sure?”

“I think I am, but there is much to consider. There must be in such a serious undertaking as marriage.”

“My dearest Minelle, there is only one thing to consider in marriage and that is whether two people love each other. I love you. Have you any doubts of that?”

“It may well be that we do not mean the same thing by love. I know you want to be with me, make love with me … but I am not sure that is being in love.”

What is, then? “

“Sharing a lifetime together, mutual respect, understanding. That is important, not the excitement of the moment. Desire, by its very nature, is transient. Before I married I should want to be sure that the man I married was the right father for the children I should have, that he was a man who would share my moral code, a man I could look up to and whom I could trust to be a good father to my children.”

“You set a high standard,” he said.

“I believe the schoolmistress cannot resist setting her suitors an examination.” “It may be so. And perhaps the schoolmistress is not the right wife for a man with a roving eye and a love of adventure.”

“My opinion is that she is just the right wife for him. Let us have an end to this nonsense. I will get a priest to marry us within a few days.”

“I must have time,” I insisted.

“You disappoint me, Minelle. I thought you were adventurous too.”

“You see, I am right. I disappoint you already.”

“I would rather be disappointed by you than pleased by any other woman.”

“That is ridiculous.”

“Is that the way to talk to your lord and master?”

“I can see that my proud spirit would never succumb. Oh, how wise I am to consider these things before rushing headlong into a marriage which could be disastrous.”

“It would be exciting disaster.

“I would give up the excitement to avoid the disaster.”

“You enchant me … you always do.”

“I can’t think why, when I never agree with you.”

“Too many people have agreed with me … or pretended to. It becomes monotonous.”

I prophesy that disagreement would become equally monotonous and less pleasing to you. “

Try me. Please, Minelle, try me. Listen, my love. Perhaps even now it is too late. The faubourgs are preparing to rise. They are coming against us. Let us enjoy life while we can. “

“Whoever comes against you, I must have time,” I insisted.

He sat by my bed for a long time. We did not speak much but he was silently pleading, I knew. I wavered. So much I wanted to say: “Yes, let us many. Let us have a little happiness together,” but I could not forget walking with Joel, talking with Joel, and perhaps most of all the memory of my mother.

I said suddenly: “Was a message sent to Grasseville to tell them where I was?”

He said that had been taken care of.

“Thank you. They would have been anxious.”

I closed my eyes, feigning sleep. I wanted to think, but of course my thoughts led me nowhere but back to the perpetual question.

It was the fourteenth day of July a date in France no one will ever forget. My arm was still bandaged but I was otherwise quite well and it was merely a matter of waiting for the wound to heal.

During the previous day there had been a hush over the city. The weather was hot and sultry and I had the impression that a great beast was crouching, ready to spring.

My own state of mind was tense. In a short time two attempts had been made on my life. One cannot pass through such ordeals unscathed.

I wanted to get away and be alone for a while. In such a mood I put on a light cloak and went out As I passed through the narrow streets I was aware that furtive glances came my way. Members of the King’s guards walked about uneasily.

In the distance I could hear the sound of singing.

Someone caught my arm.

“Minelle, are you mad?”

It was the Comte. He was soberly dressed in a brown cloak and a tall hat with a brim such as that which had been worn by Perigot. People now took the precaution of never being conspicuously well dressed in the streets.

“You should never have come out. I have been looking for you. I understood you had come in this direction of the Pont Neuf by the Quai de L’Horloge. We must go back at once.”

He drew me close to the wall as a party of young men-possibly students came running past. Their words made me shiver: “A bos les aristocrates. A la lanterne.”

We walked swiftly past. I was trembling, not for myself but for him. I knew that however homespun his garments he could never disguise his origins and none would mistake him long for anything but the man he was.

“We will go back at once,” he said.

Before we reached the Faubourg Saint-Honore, pandemonium had broken forth and the whole of Paris seemed to have gone mad. There was shouting and screaming in the streets. People were rushing backwards and forwards, joining mobs, chanting, shouting: “A la Bastille.”

“They are going to the prison,” said the Comte.

“My God, it has begun.”

We reached the Faubourg Saint-Honore in safety.

“You must leave Paris without delay,” he said.

“It will be unsafe to stay here. Change your clothes as quickly as you can and come down to the stables.”

I obeyed him. He was waiting impatiently for me there. He had given orders that those who could should leave the house, but not in a body, gradually. It must not be noticed that they were leaving.

He and I rode south in the direction of the chateau. It was night when we arrived.

As we stood in the hall he turned to me sadly and said:

“You left it too late, you see. The revolution has begun. You must leave for England at once. For God’s sake do not speak French, for you do it so well that the uneducated might mistake you for a Frenchwoman and you carry yourself in such a way that they would regard you as an enemy of the people.”

“What of you? You will escape to England?”

He shook his head.

“This is but the beginning. Who knows, there may yet be time to save the cnmibling regime. It is not for me to leave the sinking snip, Minelle. There is work for me here. I shall return to Paris. I shall go to see the King and his ministers. It may be that all is not lost. But you must go at once. That is my first concern.”

“You mean … leave you?”

For one moment there was such tenderness in his face that I scarcely recognized him as the man I knew. He held me close to him and kissed my hair.

“Foolish Minelle,” he said.

“Procrastinating Minelle. Now we must say goodbye. You must go and I must stay here.”

“I will stay,” I said.

He shook his head.

“I forbid it.”

“So you will send me away?”

He hesitated for a moment and I saw the emotions battling with each other. He believed now that if I stayed we should become lovers because that was what happened to people in desperate situations when death could be close at hand. They clutched at what life had to offer.

But if I stayed I should be in danger.

He said firmly: “I shall make immediate arrangements for you to leave.

Perigot has proved that he can be trusted. He will take you to Calais and you will leave tonight. There must be no delay. “

So this was how it had ended. I had been unable to decide for myself and the revolution had decided for me.

Darkness had fallen. I was preparing to leave. In the stables my horse was ready. The Comte had said my departure must be as quiet as possible.

“I shall have no peace while you are here,” he said. ‘you stand a good chance of escape with Perigot to guide you. Don’t forget, do not speak French unless it is necessary. Stress your nationality. It will carry you through. The people have no quarrel with foreigners. This is a war between Frenchmen and Frenchmen. “

I argued with him. I wanted to stay. Twice I had come near to death. I was ready to risk it again. Anything rather than leave him.

He was moved but adamant

“Ironical,” he said, when there was no danger you hesitated. You wanted to be sure, didn’t you? You didn’t trust me. Nothing has happened to establish that trust . and yet you are ready to risk your life to stay with me. Oh, perverse Minelle! “

I could only plead with him.

“Let me stay. Let me take a chance. Or come with me. Why should you not come to England?”

He shook his head.

“I am too involved here. I could not desert my colleagues. France is my country. She is about to be torn asunder. I must stay and fight for what I believe to be right. Listen, Minelle.

When it is all over I will come for you. “

I shook my head sadly.

You do not believe that? You think I will have forgotten you? I tell you this: whatever happens in the future . j whatever has happened in the past, I love you. You are the l only one for me . and although you do not know it yet . I am the one for you. How different our lives have been! We have lived by different codes. You have been brought up as a good Christian woman.

I .well, I have lived in a decadent society. It never occurred to me to consider whether I had a right to’ behave as I did. Not until I killed a child did I begin to take a little stock of myself, and then my environment was too strong for me. I reverted to type. When you came, I changed. I wanted a different life. You made me see everything in a new light.

You showed me how to see life through your eyes. I want more lessons, little schoolmistress, and only you can teach me. “

“Then I will stay. I will marry you and stay with you.”

“If I married you now you could become the Comtesse Fontaine Delibes.

That would not be a very good name to have in this new France. God knows what they will do to us, but it will be revenge . bitter and cruel. That I am sure of. The last thing that must happen to you just now is that you become one of us. There is only one course open to you now. You must go. It is too late for anything else. Come, we are wasting precious time. Goodbye, my dearest. No, au revoir. We shall meet again. “

I clung to him. Now I was sure. I belonged with him. I never wanted to leave him. I did not know whether he had killed his wife or not and in that moment I knew I could not have changed my feelings towards him even if he were guilty.

“Perigot is waiting in the stables. There must be no delay.”

He put his arm about me and we went out into the hot night air.

As soon as we approached the stables I knew that something was wrong.

I was aware of watching eyes, a movement, the sound of heavy breathing. He was aware of it too. His grip on my arm tightened as he drew me hastily towards the stables. Then suddenly there was a shout.

“He’s here. Take him now.”

As the Comte pushed me from him a torch flared up suddenly. I saw the mob then . twenty . thirty of them crowding in on us, eyes alight with brutal excitement. They were inflamed with the desire for revenge on any member of that class which had oppressed them for hundreds of years.

“Get into the stables,” he muttered to me.

I did not move. I could not leave him.

Then I saw a sight which sickened me. At their head was a face I knew.

Leon’s.

I only just recognized him in the light from the flare, so distorted was his expression. I had never thought Leon could look like that. His eyes were wild with hatred, his mouth distorted. How different from the suave and kindly man I had known!

“Hang him!” shouted a voice.

“Hang him? That’s too nice.”

Then they marched on him. I saw him fall . and Leon was there.

I could not hear what Leon said, but he was commanding them.

They took him away. I saw him attempt to fight them on but even he could do nothing against so many. I felt sick with fear and horror. I was shaking with misery.

Oh God, I thought. He is right. It is too late.

II

Perigot was beside me.

“Mademoiselle, we should go … quickly.”

“No,” I said, “I shall not go.”

There is nothing that can be done. “

“What will they do to him?”

They are killing his kind all over the country. Mademoiselle. His wish was that you should leave at once for England. This is no place for you. “

I shook my head.

“I shall not go until I know what has happened to him.”

Perigot said sadly: “Mademoiselle, there is nothing we can do. His wish must be obeyed.”

“I shall stay here until I know,” I said firmly.

I went into the chateau and to my room. I sat down wearily, my thoughts with him. What would they do to him? What punishment would they inflict for what they called centuries of injustice? His crime was that he belonged to the oppressors. It was now the turn of others to oppress.

He had tried so hard to save me. His thoughts had been all for me. If he had not returned with me to the chateau he would have been in Paris now. Not that there was safety there, but he would have been with his colleagues at the Court and surely they would have made some stand.

What could I do now? What was there to do? Nothing but wait.

Where had they taken him? Where was he now?

I dared not think.

Leon was the traitor. I had been fond of Leon. It was hard to believe that he would have been the one to lead the mob to the Comte. Nearly all his life he had been nurtured in the chateau fed, clothed and educated. And all the time he had nursed such resentment that at the first opportunity, he had turned against his benefactor. But his twin brother had been killed . by the Comte; and that was something which had never been forgiven.

But he had tried to recompense them. He had taken Leon into his household. Leon had looked after his family. Ursule had helped them. But they could not forgive. All those years they must have been waiting for revenge and Leon had so carefully concealed his true feelings as to deceive us all.

It was Leon whom I had seen on the night of the ball. That should have warned me. But I could not believe it then and had convinced myself that I was mistaken.

But what was the use of brooding on these matters now. There was only one thing that mattered. What was happening to the man I loved.

I stood at the window, peering out. I could see the light of a flare in the distance. I strained my eyes. Was he there now? They would kill him. It was murder I had seen in their eyes . the hatred for those who had been born to riches and possessed that which they coveted.

I believed that something died in me at that moment. Nothing I could ever do would be the same again. Life had shown me an opportunity to love, to live excitingly, dangerously perhaps and I had passed it by. My puritanical upbringing had not allowed me to accept what life was offering me. I wanted to make sure . and so I lost my chance.

This would have come. This was inevitable. But at least we might have had some life together.

Someone had come into my room. I turned sharply and saw Nou-Nou. :

“So they have taken him,” she said. They have taken the Comte. “

I nodded.

“God help him. They are in no mood to be gentle.”

I said passionately: They are madmen. They look like savages. And these are his own people . the people who have lived on his estate, benefited from his bounty . “

That could be dangerous talk,” she said.

“It’s true,” I cried.

“Nou-Nou, what will happen to him?”

They’ll hang him, most likely,” she said dispassionately.

“No!”

“It’s what they’re doing. Hanging them on the lanterns. That’s what I heard. They’ve taken the Bastille. It’s the start. It’s the beginning of the Reign of Terror. There is no chance for the Comte and his kind.

I’m glad my Ursule went when she did. This would have been terrible for her. They won’t spare the women, you know. “

I could not bear to look at her. She was so calm and almost gloating.

“Oh yes,” she went on, ‘it was right she should go when she did. It wouldn’t have done for her to live through this. “

I did not want to look at Nou-Nou, nor to listen to her;

I wanted to be alone with my sorrow.

But she came to me and sat beside me; she laid a cold hand over mine.

“You will never be with him now, will you?” she said.

“You will never lie beside him and exult in what she so dreaded. Her mother was the same. Some women are like that. They should never marry. It’s not fair to them. But they are reared in ignorance … as it is right they should be … and then suddenly they come to knowledge and they find it unendurable. Such was my little Ursule. Such a happy girl she was . playing with her dolls. She loved her dolls. They used to call her the Little Mother. And then … they married her to him. Anyone else would have been better. She was so like her mother in every way . yes, in every way.”

I wished she would go. I could think of nothing but him. What were they doing to him? He would suffer from indignity more than physical pain, I knew. I kept thinking of him as he had been the first time I had seen him, when I had called him the Devil, on Horseback. So proud, so formidable, invincible.

I can tell the truth now,” Nou-Nou was saying.

“It’s like a burden dropping from you. I always felt the need to tell the truth. I’ve been on the point of doing it many times. You suspected him, didn’t you?

Everyone suspected him-you too. Yes, some thought you’d have a hand in it. He had a motive, didn’t he? He was tied to her . and she couldn’t give him a son and there was a young healthy woman . you.

Mademoiselle. It was easy to see how he felt about you. They were all waiting, weren’t they? I laughed, I did, to think of Gabrielle LeGrand What a blow for her, although she might have known it wouldn’t be her . even if he were free. But they go on hoping, don’t they? Such opinions they have of themselves. It was easy to see she had long been a habit with him. “

“Please, Nou-Nou,” I said, “I am very tired.”

“Yes, you’re tired and they’ve taken him, haven’t they? They’ll show no mercy to him. He wasn’t much of a one for showing mercy himself, was he? He’ll be swinging from a lantern by now. Perhaps they’ll hang him from one of his own.”

“Stop it, NouNou.”

“I hated him,” she said fiercely.

“I hated him for what he did to my Ursule. She dreaded his coming to her.”

“You’ve admitted it would have been the same with any man.”

“Some might have been kinder.”

“Nou-Nou, will you please leave me alone.”

“Not till I’ve told you. You must listen to me. It’s best to know the truth. It can do little good now. Perhaps that’s why I’m telling you.

I knew her mother well. She was good to me. She took me in when I had my trouble . when I lost my man and my little one. She put Ursule into my arms and she said: “Here is your baby now, Nou-Nou.” And then there was something to live for. She was my baby. My little love. And I stopped thinking so bitterly about my own sweet baby. Her mother was a sick woman. She was like Ursule . listless . never wanting to do much, turning away from her food, and then me pains started.

They flared up. She suffered terribly. She was mad with pain, and then she took her own life because she could not endure it any more. It was going to happen to Ursule. She was so like her mother. I knew, didn’t I? Who could know better? She had the pains . only mildly as her mother had had them at first and I had the doctors to her. They said she was suffering from that which had killed her mother. I knew what it was going to be like. “

She had my attention now. I was staring at her in amazed horror.

“Yes,” said Nou-Nou, ‘she would have suffered if she had lived. And she would never have taken her own life. She had strong feelings against that. She’d talked of them often.

“We’re here to fulfill a purpose, Nou-Nou,” she used to say.

“It’s no use giving up half-way.

If you do you’ll have to come back and do it all again. ” I couldn’t bear to think of her suffering … not my little Ursule. So I saw to it that she didn’t…”

“You, Nou-Nou. You killed her.”

To save her pain,” said Nou-Nou simply. There! I’m a murderess, you’re thinking. You’re thinking that they should take me and hang me on a lantern or send me to the guillotine.”

“I know you did it for love,” I said.

“Yes, I did it for love. My life is empty now she has gone. But I know this: she is suffering no pain where she is now. That’s how I console myself.”

“But you let it be thought…”

Sly lights came into her eyes. That he had killed her. Yes, I did. He had killed her . a thousand times in his thoughts. He wanted her out of the way, but he didn’t kill her. I, who longed to have her with me forever, did that. “

She covered her face with her hands and began to cry.

“My little one. She looked so peaceful lying there. She would just slip away, I knew. No pain … never again. All her fears of him were over. She is happy now, my baby. She is with that other baby … my two darlings together.”

“Oh, Nou-Nou,” I said, and tried to put an arm about her.

She threw me off.

“You’ll never have him now,” she said malevolently.

“It’s all over.”

Then she rose and glided towards the door. She stopped there and looked back at me.

“You should go home,” she said.

“Forget this happened … if you can.” She took a step back into the room and fixed her wild eyes on me.

“You are in danger too. They let you go tonight, but you are one of them, remember.” Her lips twisted into a grim smile. The cousin . the same family. Now you will see what it means to belong to such a family. They were after the big fish tonight. But all fishes are sweet, as is the blood of aristocrats to them. They want to see it flow . the sons’, the daughters’, the nieces’, the nephews’, the cousins . “

“Nou-Nou,” I began, but she had turned away and as she went she muttered: They will come, I tell you. They will come for you. “

Then she went out and left me.

I felt stunned by her revelation. I had misjudged him, and I might never have a chance to ask his pardon.

What was happening to him now? Desperately I tried to curb my imagination. I could not shut out of my mind the memory of those distorted faces, crazy with blood lust, determined on revenge.

They had taken him. Nou-Nou’s voice kept echoing in my ears: They will come for you. “

I sat at the window waiting for the morning. What I should do then I did not know. Where had they taken him? What had happened to him?

Perhaps already . I would not allow myself to believe that. I found myself making bargains with God.

“Let me see him … only once. Let me tell him that I know now how I misjudged him. Let me tell him that I love him . that I have always loved him, but that I was too inexperienced, too bound by convention, to know it. Once … let me see him once.”

He would have said I should not be here. I should have gone off with Perigot while there was a chance. How could I? I could think of nothing but him. My own safety seemed of no importance. If they were going to kill him they could kill me with him.

In the distance I heard shouting. I was immediately at the window, looking out. There were lights among the trees . torches coming nearer to the chateau as I watched.

Now I could hear their voices. Did I imagine it or could I hear the word: Cousine. “

They were chanting something.

Footsteps outside my door. Light running footsteps.

Voices were whispering. It was the servants.

“They are coming for the cousin … now.”

I went back to the window. I heard it distinctly.

“A bos la cousine. A la lanterne.”

My throat was dry. So it had come, then. I was to be taken’ by the mob as he had been. This was the price I was to pay. I had allowed myself to be drawn into subterfuge. I had pretended to be Margot’s cousin for her sake and afterwards I had allowed the deception to be continued.

Now this very pretence could cost me my life.

I did not want to die. I wanted so much to live, to be with my love, to grow old with him. There was so much I had to learn about him, about life. I had so much to live for . if he could be with me.

The noise from below was horrific. I shut my eyes and it was as though those faces made hideous by greed, envy, hatred and malice were closing in on me.

The light from the torches illumined my room. In the mirror I caught a glimpse of a wild-eyed woman whom I scarcely recognized as myself.

At any moment now . There was a hammering on my door. I went to it and leaned against it.

“Open … quickly.” It was Perigot.

I turned the key. He seized my arm and dragged me into the corridor.

He ran pulling me with him. We mounted a spiral staircase which went on and on.

We had reached the watch tower.

There he touched a panel and the wood slid back disclosing a cavity.

“Get in,” he said.

“You could be safe here. They will search the chateau but few know of this place. I will come back when they have gone.”

The panel shut on me. I was in complete darkness.

I beard them come into the watch tower. I heard their laughter and their ugly threats as to what they would do when they found me.

Again and again I heard the word “Cousine’ and my thoughts went back to the peaceful days of my life when my mother had been alive and it would have seemed impossible that I should ever become a victim of the French revolution. Cousin … That was when it had began. It was when I had agreed to come to France with Margot and pose as her cousin. If I had not done so … No, I told myself, even with danger and the prospect of violent death close to me, I would do it again. I regret nothing … except my doubts of the Comte.

“The Devil on Horseback.” I used it tenderly now.

My Devil. But I wanted nothing else from life but to be with him, and I would risk anything . even my life . for the time I had spent with him. He loved me and I loved him and I would give my life for that.

At any moment I was expecting the wall to open. They would find the secret sliding panel. Perhaps they would tear the walls down. I crouched, waiting in horror.

Then I realized that the noise had died away. Was I safe, then?

It seemed like hours that I waited there in the quiet darkness and then Perigot came.

He had brought rugs and candles.

“You will have to stay here for a while,” he said.

“The mob was murderous. They have ransacked the chateau and taken away some of the valuables. Thank God, they did not set it on fire. I have convinced them that you escaped when they took the Comte. Some of them have taken horses from the stables and gone off in pursuit. It will die down in a day or two. They have others with whom to occupy themselves.

You must stay here until I can take you away. As soon as it is possible I will take you to Grasseville. “

“Perigot,” I said, ‘it is the second time I have owed my life to you.”

“The Comte would never forgive me if I allowed you to come to any harm.”

“You talk of him as though …”

“Mademoiselle,” he said seriously, ‘the Comte was always one to extricate himself from trouble. He will do it again. “

“Oh Perigot, how is that possible?”

“Only God … and the Comte… will know. Mademoiselle. But it must be. It will be.”

And Perigot’s words did more to lighten the darkness of my hiding place than his candles could ever do.

I passed through that night somehow in my candlelit prison. I lay on my rugs and I thought of the Comte. Perigot was right. He would find some way out.

Perigot came early next morning. He brought food which I could not eat.

He said that he would have two horses ready in the stables. Thank God the mob had not taken them all. We must slip down after dark for he did not know whom he could trust. I must try to eat something and be ready when the moment came.

It was the following night when Perigot came again to the tower. I knew that he could not make many journeys to me during the day for fear of arousing suspicion.

“You are leaving immediately,” he whispered.

“Be careful.

Don’t speak. We have to get down to the stables undetected. “

I stepped out of my hiding place and stood in the watch tower.

Perigot shut the panel and turned to me.

“Now we must descend the spiral staircase. I shall go first. Follow me carefully.”

I nodded and was about to speak when he put his fingers to his lips.

Then he started down the staircase.

In the main part of the chateau we had to be especially careful for I understood that we could not know who in the household might betray me. Carefully he went while I folowed. It seemed a long journey but finally we were out of the castle and the cool night air seemed intoxicating after my prison in the hole behind the walls of the watch tower.

Then . my heart leaped in terror for as we entered the stables a man came towards us.

This is the end, I thought. Then I saw who it was.

“Joel!” I cried.

“Hush,” whispered Perigot.

“All is ready.”

“Come, Minella,” said Joel, and helped me into the saddle.

Perigot came close.

“Your English friend will take you to safety.

Mademoiselle,” he said.

“I have news of the Comte. They did not kill him.”

“Oh … Perigot! Is that true? You know …”

He nodded.

“They have taken him to Paris. He is in the Conciergerie.”

“Where they go … to await death.”

The Comte is not yet dead. Mademoiselle. “

Thank God. Thank you. Perigot, how can I ever . “Go quickly,” said Perigot.

“Keep in good heart.”

Joel said again: “Come, Minella.”

We came out of the stables, and then I was riding, side by side with Joel, away from the chateau.

Through the night we rode until Joel suggested that we give the horses a rest. It was not quite dawn when we came to a wood and we took the horses to a stream to drink. Then Joel tethered them and we leaned against a tree trunk and talked.

He told me how worried he had been when I disappeared and how relieved when a message came from the Comte to tell them that I was in Paris. Joel had gone to the house in Paris and learned where I was.

When he came to the chateau his object was to take me back to Grasseville, for Margot had decided to leave for England with her husband and Chariot. She would not go without me and he agreed whole-heartedly with her that we must leave as soon as possible.

Arriving at the chateau he heard what had happened and Perigot and he had agreed that it was like an act of Providence that he had come just at that time. He had arranged with Perigot that he and I should leave at once.

“Paris is terrifying,” he said. They are talking of what they will do to certain people when they have them in their hands. “

“Was… the Comte’s name mentioned?”

It is a well-known name. “

I shivered.

“And they have him,” I murmured. They came and took him.

Leon, that wicked traitor, led them to him. “

Thank God they did not get you. “

“It was Perigot who saved me … as he did before.”

“He is a devoted servant.”

“Oh, Joel,” I cried, ‘they have him there in the Conciergerie. The prison they call the ante-room of death. “

“But he is alive,” Joel reminded me.

“Etienne is in there also. I heard he had been taken with Armand.”

“So they will be there together. I was afraid the mob had killed me Comte.”

“No. Perigot told me he is too big a prize for an insignificant death.

The mob was persuaded to fake him to Paris. “

I felt sick with fear. They bad taken him to the Conciergerie, the waiting-room of death. They would make a good show of his journey to his execution. He was to represent the symbol of their power. Through him they would show that there would be no mercy on those aristocrats who fell into the hands of the people. The tables had been viciously turned. Yet at the same time my spirits were lifted a little because he still lived.

“I must go to Paris,” I said to Joel.

“No, Minella. We are going to Grasseville. We must leave this country without delay.”

“You must go, Joel, but I shall stay in Paris. While he lives I want to be near him. “

“It is madness,” said Joel. “Perhaps, but it is what I shall do.”

How patient Joel was with me. How clearly he understood. If I could not leave Paris, then nor would he. He spared himself nothing. He faced a hundred dangers for my sake. He had a friend in the Rue Saint-Jacques and we stayed in his house there. It was an unobtrusive dwelling among the booksellers and the seventeenth-century houses.

Many students lived there and in the sombre clothes which Joel had acquired for us we were inconspicuous.

To be in that city-once so proud and beautiful and to see it brought low as only mob rule can bring a city, was to suffer deeply, but to know that the man I loved was in the hands of those who would show no mercy was so profound a sorrow that I did not think I could ever recover from it. The shrieking mobs roamed the streets in their red caps. The nights were the most terrible. I used to lie in my bed shivering, for I knew that in the morning, if we ventured out, we should see lifeless corpses dangling from the lanterns . sometimes hideously mutilated.

“We should go now,” Joel was constantly telling me.

“There is nothing more we can do.”

But I could not go . not until I knew he was dead.

I would haunt the Cour du Mai and watch the tumbrils go by. I stood there among that morbidly fascinated crowd and listened to the jeers as some nobleman rode by, wig less head shaved, aloof, disdainful.

I was there when Etienne went by. Hauehty, showing no fear, proud of the fact right to the end that he was of noble blood, to establish which he had tried to kill me.

I thought: It is Etienne today. Will it be his father tomorrow?

It was night . hideous night. From my window I could hear the shouts of the people.

There was a sudden banging on the front door. I threw a robe about me and went on to the landing. Joel was already at the top of the stairs.

“Stay where you are,” he commanded.

I obeyed while he descended the stairs. Then I heard some one talking to him and a man came up the stairs with him. He wore a cloak and a hat pulled over his eyes.

He took off the hat when he saw me.

“Leon!” I cried, and such waves of anger swept over me that I was speechless. I could only stare at him.

“You are surprised to see me?” he said.

Then I found my voice.

“I wonder you dare come here! You, who betrayed him! He brought you to the chateau, gave you education, standing …”

Leon held up a hand.

“You misjudge me,” he said.

“I have come to try to save him.”

I laughed bitterly.

“I saw you on the night they took him.”

“I think,” said Joel, we should go somewhere where we can talk. Come into my room. “

I shook my head.

“I do not want to talk to this man,” I said.

“Go away. He has come to trick us, Joel. He doesn’t want his revenge to stop with the Comte.”

Joel had led us into his room. There was a table there with a few chairs.

“Come and sit down,” he said to me tenderly

I sat down, Joel beside me. Leon sat opposite. He was looking at me earnestly.

“I want to help you,” he said.

“I always had a great regard for you.” He smiled rather onesidedly.

“Why, at one time I thought of offering myself. But I knew how things were. I want you to know that I would be ready to do a great deal for you. I shall run great risks if I do this, but then this is a time of risks. Those who are alive one day are dead the next.”

“I want nothing to do with you,” I said.

“I know you for what you are.

I saw you throw the stone through the window on the night of the ball, but I could not believe my eyes and thought I had imagined it. I know now how wrong I was . for you were there when they took him. You were at their head. You led them to him. I saw the cruelty and hatred in your eyes and there was no mistaking you then. “

“But you were mistaken. I see I must convince you of my loyalty to the Comte.”

“You will never do that if you talk all night.” I turned to Joel.

“Send him away. He is a traitor.”

“There is little time left to us,” said Leon.

“Will you give me a few moments to explain, because if you are going to save the Comte you need my help, and anything I can do will be of no use unless you are ready.”

Joel was looking at me.

“I saw him,” I said.

“There can be no doubt.”

“You did not see me,” said Leon.

“You saw my twin brother.”

I laughed.

“It won’t do. We know he died. He was killed by the Comte’s horses and this is the reason why you were brought to the chateau.”

“My brother was injured … badly. It was thought he would never recover. They all thought he was dying. The Comte took me as recompense. But my brother did not die.”

“I don’t believe it,” I said.

“Nevertheless it’s true.”

“But where was he all those years?”

“When they knew he was going to recover my parents believed that if he did all the benefits which came from the chateau would cease. I should be sent from the chateau and one of the great joys of my parents’ life was to have an educated son … a ” chateau boy”, they called me. The thought of losing that was intolerable to them. They loved their children. Oh, they were good parents. That was the main reason why they did what they did. They arranged for my brother to ” die” … to appear to be dead, you see. They had a coffin made for him and he lay in it and when the time for burial came my uncle was the coffin-maker which simplified matters-it was nailed down and my brother smuggled out of the village to another, fifty miles away, where he was brought up with my cousins.”

“It’s an incredible story,” I said suspiciously.

“Nevertheless it’s true. We were identical twins. It is possible to tell the difference between us if you see us side by side … but we could easily be mistaken one for the other. My brother was less able to forgive the Comte than the rest of the family were. He bears the scars of his accident to this day. He walks with a limp. The present situation has given him the chance he has waited for all his life. In his early teens he was fomenting discontent among the peasants. He is clever, though without education. He is shrewd, daring, capable of anything that will bring revenge on a class which he hates, and there is one he hates above all others.”

He was so earnest, he told his story so plausibly, that I was beginning to be won over. I glanced at Joel who was watching Leon intently.

“Let us hear your plan,” he said.

“My brother is recognized as one of the leaders of the people. He was responsible for the capture of the Comte and bringing him to Paris.

The Comte is well known throughout the country as an aristocrat of aristocrats. It will be a great triumph for them when they can show him in the streets in his tumbril. There will be crowds in the Cour du Main on that day.

I said quickly: “What plan is this?”

“I would try to bring him out of the Conciergerie.”

“Impossible,” cried Joel.

“Almost,” replied Leon.

“But perhaps with a great deal of care, cunning and daring … it could be done, but you know to attempt it we should all be risking our lives.”

“We are all risking our lives here,” I said impatiently.

This would be a rather greater risk. You may not wish to undertake it.

To be caught would not mean only death . but horrible death. The people’s rage could send them into a frenzy against you. “

“I would do anything to save him,” I said. Then I looked at Joel.

“Joel,” I added, ‘you must not take part in this. “

“I’m afraid,” Leon pointed out, “I was counting on your help.”

“If you are in it, Minella, of course I shall be with you,” said Joel firmly.

“Let us hear what is expected of us.”

“As I said,” went on Leon, ‘my brother is one of the leaders of the revolution. He is known and respected by the people throughout France.

Some are afraid of him for his ruthlessness, and he would spare none who worked against the revolution. You did not know the difference between us when you saw him in the mob. You thought you saw me on the night of the ball when he was the one you saw. If my brother went to the Conciergerie and demanded co se-ie’ll ‘on i. he walked out with him to take him to another prison, he could do so,” I began to see what he was leading to.

“Are you saying you would go to the Conciergerie and impersonate your brother?”

“I could attempt it. I know his mannerisms, his walk, his voice. I can mutate them. Whether I should succeed is another matter.

If we are caught I warn you we should be taken by the mob and torn to pieces. It would not be a pleasant ending to our adventure. “

“Why are you proposing to do this?” I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. Today, one lives dangerously. You see me . between two worlds. I am of the people but by the nature of my upbringing I am on the other side. I am trusted by neither . as you have shown me. I have to come down on one side or the other and I have always had a weakness for lost causes. I am a man of some feeling. The Comte was as a father to me . oh, a remote sort of father . far far above me, rarely deigning to notice me. But I was proud to be his protege. I looked up to him. I used to promise myself that I would be like him. He is the sort of man I should most like to be. I cannot bear to think of such talents being destroyed. My motives are mixed.

All my life I have been told: “Do this, do that. It is the wish of the Comte.” Now I shall have the opportunity of going to the Comte and saying: “Do this. I, Leon, your peasant protege have it in my power to save your life.” Think of the satisfaction. There is another point-I have a fondness for him . and for you. Mademoiselle Minelle. I suspected Etienne and I cursed myself for not being there to save you.

But here is my opportunity. “

“Are you quite sure you want to take it?”

“I am completely sure. Listen. I shall go into the prison. I shall wear a cloak such as my brother wears. I shall sport the red cap. I shall talk in his voice, mutate his limp, which I can do so that none will know the difference between us. I shall say that the day for the execution of the Comte is fixed and it is to be a day of great rejoicing. We shall make it symbolic of the revolution. For this reason the Comte is not to leave from the Conciergerie as so many have done. He will go to another prison as yet to be secret and it will be the task of Jean Pierre Bourron-my brother-to take him to that secret place. I shall have my cabriolet waiting outside.” He turned to Joel.

“You will be my driver. As soon as we are in it you will drive with all speed. You, Minelle, will be waiting at the Quai de la Megisserie where we shall pick you up and then ride on with you as quickly as we can. On the edge of the city I shall have arranged for a fiacre with fresh horses.

Then. you will ride on t Grasseville where you can continue your journey to the coast. “

“It sounds as though it might work,” said Joel.

“It will need very careful planning.”

“You may rest assured that I have given my deepest thought to this.

Are you prepared to join me? “

I looked at Joel. What were we asking of him? He had come to France to take me home, to offer me marriage, and now we were suggesting that he should risk his life and perhaps face a terrible death-in order that I might find a future with another man.

But he was Joel and he did not hesitate as I knew he would not. I could almost hear my mother: “You see how right I was. He would be such a good husband to you.”

“Of course we must save the Comte,” said Joel. And I loved him for his calm reconciliation to whatever fate had to offer him. He was admirable, I knew, as the Comte could never be. But how perverse are our emotions!

Then,” said Leon, ‘let us get down to the details. If this is to work everything must go right all the way through. Not until you are on English soil will you be safe.”

All that night we were together . the three of us. Every detail was discussed over and over again. Leon reminded us once more of the risks we were running and impressed on us that only if we were prepared to consider the terrible cost of failure should we undertake this task.

Could it succeed?

I had watched them leave in the cabriolet, Joel disguised as the driver, Leon wrapped in the kind of clothes his brother favoured, the red cap on his head.

When they had left I went to take up my place at the Quai de la Megisserie.

There were many people in the streets as night came but we dared not attempt our rescue by day. I had tried to look like an old woman. My hair was completely hidden by my hood and I bent my back as I shuffled along the streets. They were terrifying, those streets by night. One could ever be sure when one would be confronted by some horrible sight. The shops were barricaded. Many of them had been looted.

Fires would spring up anywhere at any time. One would meet gangs of children singing (yd Ira.

Paris was the last place one should be in if one did not belong to it.

Perhaps this would be my last night here. It must be. I refused to contemplate failure.

How long the waiting seemed! I must be ready. I had been told to be there to step immediately into the cabriolet as it came along beside me. If it did not come in an hour, I was to make my way to our lodging in the Rue Saint-Jacques and wait there. If I heard nothing by the morning I was to leave Paris and make my way to Grasseville, where Margot and Robert would be waiting tor me to leave for England.

Never, never can I forget those fearful moments when I stood there in the heart of revolutionary Paris. I could smell the blood in the streets and the bodies in the river. I heard a clock strike nine and I knew that if they had succeeded, they must be on their way.

How cruel is the imagination! I was tormented by my own speculations.

I visualized a thousand horrors and it seemed to me as I stood there that our plan could not succeed. It was certain to be discovered. It was too wild. It was too dangerous.

I waited and waited. If they did not come soon I must make my way back to the Rue Saint-Jacques.

A leering man accosted me. I hurried away, but feared to go far. A crowd of students came marching down the road. If the cabriolet came now they might try to impede its progress.

“Oh God,” I prayed.

“Let this succeed. I would give anything I have to see his face again.”

The sound of wheels. It was the cabriolet, driving furiously towards me.

Leon stepped out and helped me in.

I looked at my love. His hands were manacled. His face was pale and there was a streak of blood on his left cheek. But he was smiling at me. That was enough. I felt I had never been so happy in my life-nor ever could be more so than I was at that moment on the Quai de la Megisserie.