These Old Shades (Alastair-Audley Tetralogy 1)

‘Le misérable! ’ she thought savagely. ‘Am I in Calais? No, for this is of a certainty not Calais. Perhaps I am at Le Havre. I do not immediately see what I am to do, but certainly I will go on being asleep. We went to Portsmouth, then. I think that Rupert will come, if he saw the way we went, but I must not wait for him. I would like to bite that man again. Diable, I am in great danger, it seems! I have a very cold feeling in my inside, and I wish that Monseigneur would come. That is foolishness, of course. He does not know that anything has happened to me. Ah, bah! Now this pig-person eats, while I starve! Certainly I will make him sorry.’

‘The lad sleeps overlong, m’sieur,’ Victor said. ‘He should wake soon now.’

‘I do not expect it,’ Saint-Vire replied. ‘He is young, and I gave him a strong dose. There is no cause for alarm, and it suits my purpose better if he sleeps for a while yet.’

‘Sans doute! ’ thought Léonie. ‘So that was it! He drugged me! He is of a wickedness! I must breathe more heavily.’

Time went lagging by, but at length there came some commotion without, and Victor entered the room again.

‘The coach awaits, m’sieur. Shall I take the boy?’

‘I will. You have paid the reckoning?’

‘Yes, m’sieur.’

Saint-Vire went to Léonie and lifted her. She was limp in his hold.

‘I must let my head fall back, so! And my mouth open a little, thus! Voyons, I am being very clever! But I do not in the least know what comes to me. This man is a fool.’

She was carried out, and put into the coach, and propped up with cushions.

‘You will make for Rouen,’ Saint-Vire said, ‘En avant! ’

The door was shut, Saint-Vire settled himself beside Léonie, and the coach rolled forward.

Léonie set her wits to work.

‘This becomes more and more difficult. I do not see that I can do anything but continue to sleep while this man sits beside me. Presently we shall stop to change horses, for these are not good, I think. Perhaps this pig-person will get out then. If he thinks I am asleep he will do that, for he will want to eat again. But still I do not see how I am to escape. I will say a prayer to the Bon Dieu to show me a way.’

Meanwhile the coach travelled on at a fair rate, and the Comte took a book from his pocket and began to read it, glancing occasionally at the inert figure beside him. Once he felt Léonie’s pulse, and seemed to be satisfied, for he sank back into his corner and resumed his reading.

They must have been over an hour on the road when it happened. There was a terrific bump, a lurch, shouts and the stamping of frightened horses, and the coach toppled slowly into the ditch, so that the door by Léonie was only a yard from the hedge. She was flung violently against the side of the coach, with Saint-Vire atop of her, and it was only by a supreme effort of will that she refrained from throwing out a hand to save herself.

Saint-Vire struggled up, and wrenched at the off-side door, calling to know what was the matter. Victor’s voice answered.

‘The near back wheel, m’sieur! We have one of the horses down, and a trace broken!’

Saint-Vire swore roundly, and hesitated, glancing at his captive. Once more he bent over her, listening to her breathing and then jumped down into the road, shutting the door behind him. Léonie heard him join in the mêlée without, and scrambled up. Cautiously she opened the door that leaned drunkenly to the hedge, and slipped out, crouching low. The men were at the horses’ heads, and Saint-Vire was hidden from her sight by one of the plunging leaders. Bent almost double she fled down the road, keeping to the ditch, and, coming presently upon a gap in the high hedge, pushed her way through it into the field beyond. She was hidden now from the road, but she knew that at any moment Saint-Vire might discover her escape, and she ran on, dizzy and trembling, back along the way they had come, looking wildly round for some hiding-place. The field stretched away on either side; the bend in the road was some hundred yards further on, and there was no sign of human habitation, or friendly woodland.

Then in the distance she heard the sound of a horse’s hoofs on the hard road, galloping from the direction of Le Havre. She peeped through the hedge, wondering whether she dared call upon this furious rider to stop and assist her. The horse came round the bend. She saw a familiar blue coat, muddied over, a torn ruffle, and a dark handsome young face, flushed and excited.

She tore her way through the hedge, flew out into the road, and waved her hands.

‘Rupert, Rupert, j’y suis! ’ she shrieked.

Rupert pulled up, wrenching his horse back upon its haunches, and let out a whoop of triumph.

‘Quick! Oh, quick!’ Léonie panted, and ran to his stirrup.

He hoisted her up before him.

‘Where is he? Where’s that black scoundrel?’ he demanded. ‘How did you –’

‘Turn, turn!’ she commanded. ‘He is there, with that coach, and there are three others! Oh, quickly, Rupert!’ She pulled the horse round, but Rupert held it in still.

‘No, damme, I’ll have his blood, Léonie. I’ve sworn –’

‘Rupert, there are three with him, and you have no sword! Now he has seen! Nom de Dieu, en avant! ’