Robert Tournay Part 22

De Lacheville gave a quick glance around the room, as a hunted man, brought suddenly to bay, might seek some weapon to defend himself. As he caught sight of Tournay, his eyes gleamed wickedly.

"This mad girl," he exclaimed, pointing to Mademoiselle de Rochefort as soon as he could control his voice, "was once my affianced bride, but she has found a mate better suited to her liking. She has been traveling with him throughout France, and now she seeks to extenuate her own conduct by slandering me, whom she has wronged."

"If you are not the coward mademoiselle has called you, you will answer to me for that lie," said Tournay, throwing Gaillard's restraining hand off from his arm and advancing toward the marquis threateningly.

De Lacheville drew back. He remembered the duel in the woods at La Thierry. He looked again into the dark eyes of the stern man who confronted him, and his mouth twitched nervously. Then with an effort he turned to the French gentlemen at his side and said, speaking rapidly, "This fellow is a Republican, one of those who clamored for King Louis's death. Shall we forget our oath to kill these regicides wherever we may find them?"

Before he had finished speaking, three swords were out of their scabbards and three infuriated French n.o.blemen sprang at Tournay.

"Gott in Himmel!" shouted General von Waldenmeer, as his Prussian officers beat down the points of the excited Frenchmen, "will you spill blood here under my very nose? Colonel Karl von Waldenmeer, place those French gentlemen under restraint, and let there be quiet here while I examine into these charges."

The Marquis de Lacheville had taken up a position near the door.

"He is Robert Tournay, an officer of the Republican army!" he cried out as he sheathed his sword. "While he is here in the disguise of a lackey in waiting to Mademoiselle de Rochefort, his intention is to play the spy and return with his information to France. For your own sake, General von Waldenmeer, you should place him where he can do you no such injury."

"What answer have you to make to this?" said the old general, addressing Tournay. "Are you a servant of Mademoiselle de Rochefort, or are you a spy of those Republican brigands? Speak! I condemn no man unheard."

Tournay looked round the room before replying.

"I am a colonel in the Republican army," he said quietly. "But I came here solely to bring mademoiselle to a place of safety; not to spy upon your army, which as a matter of fact I thought twenty miles further east."

General von Waldenmeer broke the silence that followed this avowal.

"You admit that you are an officer in the Republican army. You are within our lines under very peculiar circ.u.mstances. You may have taken advantage of Mademoiselle de Rochefort's confidence in you to play the spy. Until it is proven to the contrary, I must take the ground that both you and your companion are spies, and treat you accordingly.

Colonel von Waldenmeer, you will send for a file of soldiers and place these two men under arrest."

"General von Waldenmeer!" said Edme de Rochefort, turning toward the old baron with an appealing gesture, "you are about to commit an act of grave injustice. Colonel Tournay is guiltless of the charge of being a spy. The charge was brought against him out of malice and revenge by the man who has just slandered me so basely."

She did not look at the Marquis de Lacheville, but under the general gaze which was directed toward him as she spoke, he quailed and shrunk from the room, shivering as with ague.

"This gentleman," she went on, looking at Tournay gratefully, "has incurred great danger and endured much privation in order to bring me here in safety. He has been brave and devoted when others cravenly deserted me; and if he should be treated by you as a spy it would be as if I had decoyed him here only to destroy him."

"No, mademoiselle, no," said Robert Tournay in a low tone.

By a quick gesture she bade him be silent.

"General von Waldenmeer, you are a brave soldier. You have professed the greatest friendship for your old friend's daughter. She now asks you to release these gentlemen. As a soldier and a gentleman you are bound to grant her prayer."

She spoke the words simply and in the tone which was natural to her, as if the request admitted of no denial; and laying her hand upon the general's arm looked into his rough face.

For a moment he sat in silence. His heavy brows came down until they shaded his eyes completely. Then taking the hand that rested on his sleeve, he said:--

"At the risk of neglecting my duty as a soldier, I will grant your request. These men shall go free, but," he added hastily, as though his consent to their liberation had been given too quickly, "they must be kept under surveillance here until to-morrow, and then they shall be escorted back over the frontier. Colonel von Waldenmeer," he continued, addressing his son, "I leave you to conduct these French gentlemen to their quarters. I make you responsible for their keeping."

Edme held out her hand to Tournay. "Good-night, Colonel Tournay," she said. "It is a great joy and relief to know that you are to come to no harm through having brought me here. And you, who have done so much for me, will surely overlook this last and slight indignity which you are called upon to endure for my sake."

"Mademoiselle," he replied, bending over her hand and speaking in a tone so low that none other in the room could hear, "there is nothing in the world I would not endure for your sake. To have you speak to me like this repays me a thousand-fold. Adieu, mademoiselle. Now, Colonel von Waldenmeer, I am ready;" and with Gaillard at his side he followed young von Waldenmeer from the room.

CHAPTER XI

UNDER WHICH FLAG?

As the three men came out into the corridor, the large outer door opened and a sergeant of artillery stepped over the threshold, saluted the colonel, and stood awaiting orders. The fine snow drifted past him into the hall, stinging the faces of von Waldenmeer and his two prisoners.

The colonel turned toward the Frenchmen, and addressing them in his quick way, said:--

"It is a vile night. Give me your word not to leave the quarters to which I a.s.sign you until sent for, and I will permit you to pa.s.s the night more in comfort under this roof."

Tournay gladly a.s.sented, the young von Waldenmeer spoke a few words of command to the sergeant, who turned on his heel and repeated the order in guttural tones to some snow-covered figures behind him. The door closed with a loud bang and the escort was heard marching away.

Colonel Karl then led the way up a broad oaken staircase to a room at the end of a long corridor on the upper floor.

"My own room is just opposite," said he with a gesture of the head, as he threw open the door. "You will be more comfortable here than in the guard-house."

The house which General von Waldenmeer had chosen for his headquarters at Falzenberg was a commodious one, built around an open court, where in summer a fountain played in the centre of a green gra.s.s plot. Tournay stepped to one of the windows and looked out upon the scene. The bronze figure in the fountain was draped with ice, and a great mound of snow filled the centre of the square, where the soldiers had cleared a pa.s.sage for themselves. On the opposite side were the stables, and from the neighing and stamping of hoofs, Tournay judged more than a dozen horses were kept there. Lights flashed here and there as a subaltern or private moved about in the performance of the night's duties.

The first thing which had struck Gaillard's eye on entering was a large canopied bed. This reminded him too forcibly of his fatigue to be resisted. He threw himself down upon it, boots and all, and was asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.

Von Waldenmeer stood in the centre of the room, slapping his hessians with a little flexible riding-whip. Tournay began to thank him for the courtesy he had shown them, when the latter stopped him in his abrupt way, saying:--

"I was watching the Marquis de Lacheville's face while he was denouncing Mademoiselle de Rochefort, and if ever I saw liar written upon a man's countenance it was on his then. I wish that he had lied when he accused you of being a colonel in the Republican army." And Colonel Karl strode toward the door impatiently.

"Why should you have wished that?" demanded Tournay. "I am proud of my position."

"Bah!" exclaimed the German, with his hand on the latch, "you should be in the Prussian army. It is an honor to serve in the army that was built up by the great Frederick. A man of your courage should not be content to serve among those Republican brigands. Good-night,"--and he disappeared rapidly through the door, slamming it behind him.

Tournay roused Gaillard from his slumber. Both men were numb with fatigue. They had not taken off their clothes and slept in a bed since leaving Paris, and five minutes later they had thrown off their garments and sunk into a deep sleep in the large, white bed.

For ten hours Tournay slept without moving. Then he yawned, threw out both arms, opened his eyes a little, and was preparing to sleep again when he became conscious that a man was standing beside the bed. Opening his heavy eyes a little further, he recognized Gaillard and said to him drowsily:--

"Well! What is it, Gaillard? Can't I get a few minutes' sleep undisturbed?"

"The forenoon is half gone," replied Gaillard; "you've slept enough for one man."

"You don't mean to say that it's morning already!" exclaimed Tournay, leaning on one elbow and blinking at the light.

"Morning! The finest kind of a morning," replied Gaillard gayly. "I've been up these two hours. I gained permission to go to our carriage, and I have taken out a change of linen from our equipment in the boot."

Tournay sprang from the bed and looked out of the window. The sun was high in the heaven, and the day was bright and cold.

"That Lieutenant Sauerkraut, or whatever his name may be," said Gaillard, "has just come up to say that the general would like to see you at your convenience. The lieutenant was particularly civil, for him, so I surmise nothing will interfere with our early departure. It's astonishing how quickly an underling takes his tone from his superior officer. I suppose it will be better for you to wait upon the general at once, while the old gentleman is in a good humor," continued Gaillard, "and as I have been given the liberty of the courtyard, I will employ the time in looking after our horses."

"Very well," said Tournay. "I will go to General von Waldenmeer. I hope nothing will interfere with our immediate departure."