FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47  
48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   >>   >|  
excellent news from Marshal Simon, I came--" "News from our father!" cried Rose, drawing nearer to Rodin. "Oh, speak, speak, sir!" added Blanche. "You have news of the marshal!" said Dagobert, glancing suspiciously at Rodin. "Pray, what is this news?" But Rodin, without immediately answering the question, returned from the threshold into the room, and, contemplating Rose and Blanche by turns with admiration, he resumed: "What happiness for me, to be able to bring some pleasure to these dear young ladies. They are even as I left them graceful, and fair, and charming--only less sad than on the day when I fetched them from the gloomy convent in which they were kept prisoners, to restore them to the arms of their glorious father!" "That was their place, and this is not yours," said Dagobert, harshly, still holding the door open behind Rodin. "Confess, at least that I was not so much out of place at Dr. Baleinier's," said the Jesuit, with a cunning air. "You know, for it was there that I restored to you the noble imperial cross you so much regretted--the day when that good Mdlle. de Cardoville only prevented you from strangling me by telling you that I was her liberator. Aye! it was just as I have the honor of stating, young ladies," added Rodin, with a smile; "this brave soldier was very near strangling me, for, be it said without offense, he has, in spite of his age, a grasp of iron. Ha, ha! the Prussians and Cossacks must know that better than I!" These few words reminded Dagobert and the twins of the services which Rodin had really rendered them; and though the marshal had heard Mdlle. de Cardoville speak of Rodin as of a very dangerous man, he had forgotten, in the midst of so many anxieties, to communicate this circumstance to Dagobert. But this latter, warned by experience, felt, in spite of favorable appearances, a secret aversion for the Jesuit; so he replied abruptly: "The strength of my grasp has nothing to do with the matter." "If I allude to that little innocent playfulness on your part, my dear sir," said Rodin, in his softest tone, approaching the two sisters with a wriggle which was peculiar to him; "if I allude to it, you see, it was suggested by the involuntary recollection of the little services I was happy enough to render you." Dagobert looked fixedly at Rodin, who instantly veiled his glance beneath his flabby eyelids. "First of all," said the soldier, after a moment's silence, "a true
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47  
48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Dagobert
 

ladies

 

soldier

 
allude
 

services

 

Cardoville

 
strangling
 

Jesuit

 

marshal

 
Blanche

father

 

warned

 

circumstance

 
experience
 
communicate
 

anxieties

 

aversion

 

replied

 
secret
 

appearances


favorable

 

reminded

 

rendered

 

dangerous

 

forgotten

 

abruptly

 

Cossacks

 

Prussians

 

strength

 

looked


fixedly

 

instantly

 
render
 

suggested

 

involuntary

 
recollection
 

veiled

 

glance

 

moment

 

silence


beneath

 

flabby

 
eyelids
 

Marshal

 

excellent

 
innocent
 

matter

 
playfulness
 
sisters
 
wriggle