Which? Part 19

On hearing Philip's confession, Vauquelas sprang towards him, wild with rage.

"You call yourself Philip de Chamondrin?" he demanded.

"That is my name."

"Then you are the adopted brother of this young girl, and if you, an emigre and a conspirator, are here, it can only be because she is your accomplice. Vile wretch! to make my house a rendezvous for the enemies of the Nation!"

Anger crimsoned his cheeks and glittered in his eyes. He actually frothed with rage.

"Arrest them! Arrest them both!" he exclaimed.

Philip, who had supposed he could save Dolores by the confession he had just made, could not repress a movement of wrath and despair.

"You will regret this, sir," he said, haughtily.

"There could be no greater misfortune than to shelter aristocrats like you under my roof. I am a patriot; I love the Republic. France, first of all! Citizens, this is a dangerous man. This so-called n.o.bleman has been plotting to save the queen and to place the little Capet upon the throne. As for this young woman, she is a viper who has repaid my hospitality with treachery. Take them away!--and so perish the enemies of the Nation!"

He uttered these words with great energy and enthusiasm as if he wished to give convincing proofs of his patriotism. The soldiers were consulting together; presently they formed into two squads. One division took Dolores in charge; the other took Philip, and they were led away.

It was then nearly eleven o'clock.

CHAPTER X.

COURSEGOL'S EXPLOITS.

Coursegol returned home about midnight. In accordance with his usual custom he was pa.s.sing through the lower hall without stopping on his way to his room on the floor above, when he heard some one call him. He recognized the voice of Vauquelas, but it seemed to proceed from the chamber occupied by Dolores. Surprised that the latter was not in bed at this late hour, and fearing she was ill, he hastily entered her room.

Vauquelas was there alone, pale, nervous and excited. The girl's bed had not been disturbed. Her absence struck Coursegol at once.

"Where is Dolores?" he asked, quickly.

"Coursegol, why did you not tell me she was receiving Philip de Chamondrin here?" was his friend's only response.

"She receiving M. Philip!" cried Coursegol, greatly astonished.

"Yes, here in my house; here in this chamber. They were discovered here."

"Then M. Philip is still alive!"

"Unfortunately for me, he is still alive."

"What do you mean?" inquired Coursegol, who as yet understood but one thing--that his master was not dead.

"I mean that Dolores, whom I received into my house at your request, has been sheltering here, at the risk of compromising and ruining me, Philip de Chamondrin, one of the prime movers in a conspiracy formed for the purpose of saving the widow Capet."

"Ah! I understand," murmured Coursegol, at once divining that Philip being pursued had taken refuge in the house of Vauquelas, and had found Dolores there. "Ah, well! citizen, the young man must not remain here.

We will help him to make his escape and no one will be the wiser--"

"It is too late!"

"Why?"

"Both have been arrested; he, for conspiring against the government, she, as his accomplice."

Coursegol uttered a terrible oath: then, turning to Vauquelas and seizing him by the collar, he cried:

"It was you, wretch, who betrayed them!"

"You are choking me!" groaned Vauquelas, breathless in Coursegol's violent grasp.

"Tell me where they are!" thundered Coursegol. "I must see them. Where are they?"

"Release me," gasped Vauquelas.

This time Coursegol obeyed; but he stood before Vauquelas, angry and menacing. The latter trembled. He had not foreseen that Coursegol would hold him accountable for the arrest of Philip and Dolores.

"Explain and quickly!" cried Coursegol.

"The soldiers came to the house in pursuit of young Philip, who had taken refuge in this room. To save him, Dolores said she was his wife.

Philip, fearing she would be compromised, denied her statement; and as their explanation did not seem sufficiently clear, they were both taken to prison."

"Could you not have vouched for them--declared that they were friends of yours?"

"I did all I could to save them," whined Vauquelas.

"You lie! you lie! I tell you, you lie! It was you who betrayed them! I am sure of it. You trembled for your life, for your money. Woe be unto you!"

And Coursegol accompanied those words with a gesture so menacing that Vauquelas, believing his last hour had come, fell on his knees begging for mercy. But Coursegol seemed pitiless.

"Poor children! that death should overtake them just as Providence had united them. Wretch! fool! you were less merciful than destiny."

"Have pity!"

"Had you any pity on them? No! Ah well! you shall die!"

And drawing from his pocket a dagger that he always carried with him, Coursegol raised it above the old man's head.

"But if I promise to save them--"

The hand of Coursegol, raised to strike, fell.

"You will save them! That is only another lie. How can you save them?

The prisons of the Republic release their victims only to send them to the guillotine."

"I will bribe the jailers to let them escape."