"Is Mademoiselle Amelie home?" again asked La Force with agitated
voice.
"She is home. Heavens! have you some bad news to tell her or the
Lady de Tilly?" breathlessly inquired Hortense.
"Bad news for both of them; for all of us, Hortense. But I will not
be the bearer of such terrible tidings,--others are following me;
ask them. Oh, Hortense, prepare poor Amelie for the worst news that
ever came to her."
The Sieur La Force would not wait to be further questioned,--he rode
off furiously.
The bridesmaids all turned pale with affright at these ominous
words, and stood looking at each other and asking what they could
mean.
Amelie and Heloise caught some of the conversation between Hortense
and La Force. They sprang up and ran to the balcony just as two of
the servants of the house came rushing up with open mouths, staring
eyes, and trembling with excitement. They did not wait to be asked
what was the matter, but as soon as they saw the ladies they shouted
out the terrible news, as the manner of their kind is, without a
thought of the consequences: that Le Gardeur had just killed the
Bourgeois Philibert in the market-place, and was himself either
killed or a prisoner, and the people were going to burn the Friponne
and hang the Intendant under the tablet of the Golden Dog, and all
the city was going to be destroyed.
Pages:
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052
1053
1054
1055
1056
1057
1058
1059
1060
1061