Five minutes longer and the coach came to a halt. A cheery voice called out gaily:
"Tony! are you there?"
"Percy!" exclaimed the young man.
Already he knew that all was well. The gallant leader, the loyal and loving friend, had taxed every resource of a boundlessly fertile brain in order to win yet another wreath of immortal laurels for the League which he commanded, and the very tone of his merry voice proclaimed the triumph which had crowned his daring scheme.
The next moment Yvonne lay in the arms of her dear milor. He had stepped into the carriage, even while Sir Percy climbed nimbly on the box and took the reins from the bewildered coachman's hands.
"Citizen proconsul ..." murmured the latter, who of a truth thought that he was dreaming.
"Get off the box, you old noodle," quoth the pseudo-proconsul peremptorily. "Thou and thy friend the postilion will remain here in the road, and on the morrow you'll explain to whomsoever it may concern that the English spy made a murderous attack on you both and left you half dead outside the postern gate of the cemetery of Ste. Anne. Here," he added as he threw a purse down to the two men—who half-dazed and overcome by superstitious fear had indeed scrambled down, one from his box, the other from his horse—"there's a hundred francs for[331] each of you in there, and mind you drink to the health of the English spy and the confusion of your brutish proconsul."
There was no time to lose: the horses—still very fresh—were fretting to start.
"Where do we pick up Hastings and Ffoulkes?" asked Sir Percy Blakeney finally as he turned toward the interior of the barouche, the hood of which hid its occupants from view.
"At the comer of the rue de Gigan," came the quick answer. "It is only two hundred metres from the city gate. They are on the look out for you."
"Ffoulkes shall be postilion," rejoined Sir Percy with a laugh, "and Hastings sit beside me on the box. And you will see how at the city gate and all along the route soldiers of the guard will salute the equipage of the all-powerful proconsul of Nantes. By Gad!" he added under his breath, "I've never had a merrier time in all my life—not even when...."
He clicked his tongue and gave the horses their heads—and soon the coachman and the postilion and Jean-Marie the gravedigger of the cemetery of Ste. Anne were left gaping out into the night in the direction where the barouche had so quickly disappeared.
"Now for Le Croisic and the Day-Dream," sighed the daring adventurer contentedly, "... and for Marguerite!" he added wistfully.
II
Under the hood of the barouche Yvonne, wearied but immeasurably happy, was doing her best to answer all her dear milor's impassioned questions and to give him a fairly[332] clear account of that terrible chase and flight through the streets of the Isle Feydeau.
"Ah, milor, how can I tell you what I felt when I realised that I was being carried along in the arms of the valiant Scarlet Pimpernel? A word from him and I understood. After that I tried to be both resourceful and brave. When the chase after us was at its hottest we slipped into a ruined and deserted house. In a room at the back there were several bundles of what looked like old clothes. 'This is my store-house,' milor said to me; 'now that we have reached it we can just make long noses at the whole pack of bloodhounds.' He made me slip into some boy's clothes which he gave me, and whilst I donned these he disappeared. When he returned I truly did not recognise him. He looked horrible, and his voice ...! After a moment or two he laughed, and then I knew him. He explained to me the rôle which I was to play, and I did my best to obey him in everything. But oh! I hardly lived while we once more emerged into the open street and then turned into the great Place which was full—oh full!—of people. I felt that at every moment we might be suspected. Figure to yourself, my dear milor...."
What Yvonne Dewhurst was about to say next will never be recorded. My lord Tony had closed her lips with a kiss.
* * *
Transcriber's note
Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Printer errors have been changed, and they are listed below. All other inconsistencies are as in the original.
The following changes have been made to the text:
Page vii. "Bouffaye" changed to "Bouffay".
Page 27: "down-trodden" changed to "downtrodden".
Page 46: "waste land" changed to "wasteland".
Page 54: "interfence" changed to "interference".
Page 57: "such like" changed to suchlike".
Page 71: "overfull" changed to "over-full'.
Page 80: "were hard to enumerate" changed to "was hard to enumerate".
Page 109: "aqua-marine" changed to "aquamarine".
Page 147: "taff-rail" changed to "taffrail".
Page 163: "Nante's" changed to Nantes".
Page 198: "what reports" changed to "What reports".
Page 204: "plans wth" changed to "plans with".
Page 205: "clawlike" changed to claw-like".
Page 207: "passersby" changed to "passers-by".
Page 228: "fish crashing" change to "fist crashing".
Page 238: "anteroom" changed to "ante-room".
Page 239: "hs pocket" changed to "his pocket".
Page 240: "our of Carrier's" changed to "out of Carrier's".
Page 240: "abominal doggrel" changed to "abominable doggrel".
Page 248: "overbearing" changed to "over-bearing".
Page 252: "cutthroat" changed to "cut-throat".
Page 254: "good dead of" changed to "good deal of".
Page 300: "tried to smoothe" changed to "tried to smooth".
Page 308: "ricketty" changed to "rickety".
Page 315: "Hotel de le Villestreux" changed to "Hôtel de la Villestreux".
Page 318: "nighthawks" changed to "night hawks".
Page 318: "lustry" changed to "lusty".
Page 319: "Hotel de le Villestreux" changed to "Hôtel de la Villestreux".
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