CHAPTER XI. THE ESCAPE
Resting his elbow on the table, and with his hand to his brow, Caronsat deep in thought, his forefinger and thumb pressed against his closedeyelids. From beyond the board Mademoiselle watched him anxiously andwaited. At last he looked up.
"I think I have it," he announced, rising. "You say that the men aredrinking heavily. That should materially assist us."
She asked him what plan he had conceived, but he urged that timepressed; she should know presently; meanwhile, she had best returnimmediately to her carriage. He went to the door to call Guyot, but shestayed him.
"No, no, Monsieur," she exclaimed. "I will not pass through thecommon-room again in that fellow's company. They are all in there,carousing, and--and I dare not."
As if to confirm her words, now that he held the door open, he caughtsome sounds of mirth and the drone of voices from below.
"Come with me, then," said he, taking up one of the candles. "I willescort you."
Together they descended the narrow staircase, La Boulaye going first, toguide her, since two might not go abreast. At the foot there was a door,which he opened, and then, at the end of a short passage--in which thedrone of voices sounded very loud and in particular one, cracked voicethat was raised in song--they gained the door of the common-room. As LaBoulaye pushed it open they came upon a scene of Bacchanalian revelry.On a chair that had been set upon the table they beheld Mother Capouladeenthroned like a Goddess of Liberty, and wearing a Phrygian cap on herdishevelled locks. Her yellow cheeks were flushed and her eyes watery,whilst hers was the crazy voice that sang.
Around the table, in every conceivable attitude of abandonment, satCaptain Charlot's guard--every man of the ten--and with them the six menand the corporal of La Boulaye's escort, all more or less in a conditionof drunkenness.
"Le jour de gloire est arrive?" sang the croaking voice of DameCapoulade, and there it stopped abruptly upon catching sight of LaBoulaye and his companion in the doorway. Mademoiselle shivered out ofloathing; but La Boulaye felt his pulses quickened with hope, for surelyall this was calculated to assist him in his purpose.
At the abrupt interruption of the landlady's version of the"Marseillaise" the men swung round, and upon seeing the Deputy theysought in ludicrous haste to repair the disorder of their appearance.
"So!" thundered Caron. "This is the watch you keep? This is how you areto be trusted? And you, Guyot," he continued, pointing his finger at theman. "Did I not bid you await my orders? Is this how you wait? You seethat I am compelled to reconduct the Citoyenne myself, for I might havecalled you in vain all night."
Guyot came forward sheepishly, and a trifle unsteady in his gait.
"I did not hear you call, Citizen," he muttered.
"It had been a miracle if you had with this din," answered La Boulaye."Here, take the Citoyenne back to her carriage."
Obediently Guyot led the Citoyenne across the room and out into thecourtyard, and the men, restrained by La Boulaye's severe presence,dared scarcely so much as raise their eyes to her as she passed out.
"And now to your posts," was Caron's stern command. "By my soul, if youwere men of mine I would have you flogged for this. Out with you!" Andhe pointed imperiously to the door.
"It is a bitter night, Citizen," grumbled one of them.
"Do you call yourself soldiers, and does a touch of frost make cowardsof you? Outside, you old wives, at once! I'll see you at your postbefore I go to bed."
And with that he set himself to drive them out, and they went, untilnone but his own half-dozen remained. These he bade dispose themselvesabout the hearth, in which they very readily obeyed him.
On a side-table stood a huge steaming can which had attracted LaBoulaye's attention from the moment that he had entered the room. Hewent to peer into this, and found it full almost to the brim of mulledred wine.
With his back to those in the room, so as to screen his actions, hehad uncorked the phial as he was approaching the can. Now, as he madepretence first to peer into it and then to smell its contents, hesurreptitiously emptied the potion into it, wondering vaguely to himselfwhether the men would ever wake again if they had drunk it. Slippingthe phial into his sash he turned to Mother Capoulade, who had descendedfrom the table and stood looking very foolish.
"What is this?" he demanded angrily.
"It was a last cup of wine for the men," she faltered. "The night isbitterly cold, Citizen," she added, by way of excusing herself.
"Bah!" snarled Caron, and for a moment he stood there as ifdeliberating. "I am minded to empty it into the kennel," he announced.
"Citizen!" cried the woman, in alarm. "It is good wine, and I havespiced it."
"Well," he relented, "they may have it. But see that it is the lastto-night."
And with that he strode across the room, and with a surly "Good-night"to his men, he mounted the stairs once more.
He waited perhaps ten minutes in the chamber above, then he went to thecasement, and softly opened the window. It was as he expected. Withthe exception of the coach standing in the middle of the yard, and justdiscernible by the glow of the smouldering fire they had built therebut allowed to burn low, the place was untenanted. Believing him to haveretired for the night, the men were back again in the more congenialatmosphere of the hostelry, drinking themselves no doubt into a stuporwith that last can of drugged wine. He sat down to quietly mature hisplans, and to think out every detail of what he was about to do. At theend of a half-hour, silence reigning throughout the house, he rose.He crept softly into Charlot's chamber and possessed himself of theCaptain's outer garments. These he carried back to the sitting-room, andextracted from the coat pocket two huge keys tied together with a pieceof string. He never doubted that they were the keys he sought, oneopening the stable door and the other the gates of the porte-cochere.
He replaced the garments, and then to make doubly sure, he waitedyet--in a fever of impatience--another half-hour by his watch.
It wanted a few minutes to midnight when, taking up his cloak and alantern he had lighted, he went below once more. In the common-room hefound precisely the scene he had expected. Both Charlot's men andhis own followers lay about the floor in all conceivable manner ofattitudes, their senses locked deep in the drunken stupor that possessedthem. Two or three had remained seated, and had fallen across the table,when overcome. Of these was Mother Capoulade, whose head lay sidewayson her curled arms, and from whose throat there issued a resonantand melodious snore. Most of the faces that La Boulaye could see werehorribly livid and bedewed with sweat, and again it came into his mindto wonder whether he had overdone things, and they would wake no more.On the other hand, an even greater fear beset him, that the drug mighthave been insufficient. By way of testing it, he caught one fellow wholay across his path a violent kick in the side. The man grunted in hissleep, and stirred slightly, to relapse almost at once into his helplessattitude, and to resume his regular breathing, which the blow hadinterrupted.
La Boulaye smiled his satisfaction, and without further hesitancy passedout into the yard. He had yet a good deal to say to Mademoiselle, but hecould not bring himself to speak to her before her mother, particularlyas he realised how much the Marquise might be opposed to him. He openedthe carriage door.
"Mademoiselle," he called softly, "will you do me the favour to alightfor an instant? I must speak to you."
"Can you not say what you have to say where you are?" came theMarquise's voice.
"No, Madame," answered La Boulaye coldly, "I cannot."
"Oh, it is 'Madame' and 'Mademoiselle' now, eh? What have you done tothe man, child, to have earned us so much deference."
"May I remind Mademoiselle," put in La Boulaye firmly, "that timepresses, and that there is much to be done?"
"I am here, Monsieur" she answered, as without more ado, and heedless ofher mother's fresh remarks, she stepped from the carriage.
La Boulaye proffered his wrist to assist her to alight, then reclosedthe door, and led her sl
owly towards the stable.
"Where are the soldiers?" she whispered.
"Every soul in the inn is asleep," he answered. "I have drugged themall, from the Captain down to the hostess. The only one left is theostler, who is sleeping in one of the outhouses here. Him you must takewith you, not only because it is not possible to drug him as well, butalso because the blame of your escape must rest on someone, and it mayas well rest on him as another."
"But why not on you?" she asked.
"Because I must remain."
"Ah!" It was no more than a breath of interrogation, and her face wasturned towards him as she awaited an explanation.
"I have given it much thought, Suzanne, and unless someone remains tocover, as it were, your retreat, I am afraid that your flight might bevain, and that you would run an overwhelming risk of recapture. You mustremember the resourcefulness of this fellow, Tardivet, and his power inthe country here. If he were to awake to the discovery that I had dupedhim, he would be up and after us, and I make little doubt that it wouldnot be long ere he found the scent and ran us to earth. Tomorrow I shalldiscover your flight and the villainy of the ostler, and I shall soorganise the pursuit that you shall not be overtaken."
There was a moment's pause, during which La Boulaye seemed to expectsome question. But none came, so he proceeded:
"Your original intention was to make for Prussia, where you say thatyour father and your brother are awaiting you."
"Yes, Monsieur. Beyond the Moselle--at Treves."
"You must alter your plans," said he shortly. "Your mother, no doubt,will insist upon repairing thither, and I will see that the road isleft open for her escape. At Soignies you, Suzanne, can hire yourself aberline, that will take you back to France."
"Back to France?" she echoed.
"Yes, back to France. That is the unlikeliest road on which to think ofpursuing you, and thus you will baffle Charlot. Let your mother proceedon her journey to Prussia, but tell her to avoid Charleroi, and to goround by Liege. Thus only can she hope to escape Tardivet's men that arepatrolling the road from France. As for you, Suzanne, you had best goNorth as far as Oudenarde, so as to circumvent the Captain's brigandson that side. Then make straight for Roubaix, and await me at the 'Hoteldes Cloches.'"
"But, Monsieur, I shudder at the very thought of re-entering France."
"As Mademoiselle de Bellecour, a proscribed aristocrat, that is everyreason for your fears. But I have given the matter thought and I canpromise you that as the Citoyenne La Boulaye, wife of the Citizen-deputyCaron La Boulaye, you will be as safe as I should be myself, if you arequestioned, and, in response, you will find nothing but eagerness toserve you on every hand."
She spoke now of the difficulties her mother would make, but hedismissed the matter by reminding her that her mother could notdetain her by force. Again she alluded to her dowry, but that also hedismissed, bidding her leave it behind. Her family would need the money,to be realised by the jewels. As for herself, he assured her that as hiswife she would not want, and showed her how idle was her dread of livingin France.
"And now, Mademoiselle," he said, more briskly, "let us see to thisostler."
He opened the door of the outhouse, and uncovering his lantern he raisedit above his head. Its yellow light revealed to them a sleeper on thestraw in a corner. La Boulaye entered and stirred the man with his foot.
The fellow sat up blinking stupidly and dragging odd wisps of straw fromhis grey hair.
"What's amiss?" he grunted.
As briefly as might be La Boulaye informed him that he was to receive amatter of five hundred francs if he would journey into Prussia with theci-devant Marquise de Bellecour.
Five hundred francs? It was a vast sum, the tenth of which had neverbeen his at any one time of his wretched life. For five hundred francshe would have journeyed into Hades, and La Boulaye found him willingenough to go to Prussia, and had no need to resort to the more forciblemeasures he had come prepared to employ.
Accompanied by the ostler, they now passed to the stables, and whenLa Boulaye had unlocked the door and cut the bonds that pinioned theMarquis's coachman, they got the horses, and together they harnessedthem as quietly as might be.
Then working with infinite precaution, and as little sound as possible,they brought them out into the yard and set them in the shafts of thecarriage. The rest was easy work, and a quarter of an hour later theheavy vehicle rumbled through the porte-cochere and started on its wayto Soignies.
La Boulaye dropped the keys into a bucket and went within. In thecommon-room nothing had changed, and the men lay about precisely as hehad left them. Reassured, he went above and took a peep at the Captain,whom he found snoring lustily.
Satisfied that all was well, Caron passed quietly to his own chamber,and with an elation of soul such as had never been his since boyhood,he fell asleep amid visions of Suzanne and the new life he was to enterupon in her sweet company.