CHAPTER XL (Concluded.)

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 147, 27 March 1886, Page 4

CHAPTER XL (Concluded.)

A sign of discouragement escaped from Sartilly, while the Captain seeming absorbed in profound reflections, did not say a word, and Miss Georgina was the first to break the silence, which threatened to bo long, as the wounded girl had fallen into that sudden sleep that ordinarily follows violent shock?. " Mademoi-ellQ de Mensignac has need of rest, gentlemen, and of medical aid," she added, in a tone that signified clearly that the two friends would do well to go for the doctor. "I beg: your pardon, madam," answered Chateaubrun, who had divined her intention ; "I thought, as I got out of the carriage, of sending for the doctor, and it will not be loner before he is here ; therefore, M de Sartilly and I will go into the 8m ill drawing-room, so as not to incommode Mademoiselle de Mensignac ; and while waiting his arrival, we hope, madam, that you, whohave been fortunateenoughnot to meet with any accident, will give us the details of this extraordinary adventure." "Julia will take care of her nisrress while we are together," persisted Sartilly. " Come, gentlemen,'* said the En2"lish woman, raiding the curtain that separated the bedroom from the boudoir where Jeanne habitually received her friends. The Viscount followed her, but the Captain lingered a few seconds, which he employed "with quite military precision. "* You love your mistress, do you not ?"' he whimpered in the maid's ear. '•Certainly, sir, I love her— she 13 ?o good." "Well, then, never leave her alone with Mi>s Georgina; and, if you keep good watch, twenty live louis d'oivs are \\ aiting for you." After speaking these word^ rapidly, the alert Captain got into the boudoir time enough to meet the English woman, who had just sat down. '• Now, gentlemen,' she ' said, gravely, "I am waiting for your explanations." " Pardon me, madam," said Saitilly, very much a-tonished at this beginning, "but it i s I who desire to know — ' '• Whit has happened ta Jeanne?" interrupted the English woman ; " you have perhaps been able to guess i<\ The horses ran away ; c he was frightened, and in spite Ot all my eil'orts- «he jumped out of the window ; and in a few minutes after, the horses becoming quiet, I profited by the moment to get out myself But I ask you again," said she, looking at the Viscount. " -w hat could b6 the object of a jest that has led to such grievous consequences?" | '' A je s t .' " repeated Sartilly, more and more stupefied. "Was it not a jest, and even a most unseemly one, to send for Mademoiselle de Mensignac under the pretext that the physician had forbidden you to go out, and to nave her taken by your servants to a distant p^rt of the town?"' " My servants ''" cried the Vi=count, furiouslv ; " but it is an infernal trick, and never—'' "Let rao speak, my dear friend," interrupted tha Captain: "30U are rather too »amch agitated, and I am not so at all, and can ffive Miss Georgina all the information she aesires.*' "I dtn listening,"' said the English ■svornan, who had now recovered all her assurance. " There is some misunderstanding in this business that I cannot explain," began the imperturbable Captain ; *'and I can attest that Mademoiselle de Mensignac has been deceived, as I wa* here when the letter was brought from my friend Sartilly." '• That's true I remember,"' says the English woman, dryly. " Well, that letter is a forgery, and it appears you must have fallen into the snare nl=o "' Miss Georgina smiled incredulously, and =aid, in a bantering manner : " If his writing has been imitated, hi? coupu with his coat of arms, and his groom Toby, could T aot have been." "It i? all very incomprehensible," said •The Captain, with an expression of simplicity admirably put on. The English woman met his mocking manner with cold dignity. " Was Toby alone on the driver's seat? ' began Chateaubrun again, after a moment's silence. This que s tion went home to her, and the prudent reserve of the English woman gave i^ay before thU unexpected attack. "1 don't know — I did not remark,' she stammered out. " 1 a=k you this question," continued Chateaubrun, quietly, " because, if there was another person there, it i3 to be <uppo~ed that he might be the author of this je*t that I think, as jou do, was very un-eemly," "Perhaps it Mas so; it eeem-^ to me, indeed, that I saw another man on the seat," said Mi=3 Georgina, seeking evidently to gain time to collect her ideas, "It is very important to have hi-j description," persisted the persevering Captain. "I repeat to you, sir, that I did not remark him ; and I now remember that Toby was alone when I left the carriage " " But other persons may have seen him, and if you %\ 111 have the goodness to tell me where the carriage was when you left it, I would go and inquire." " Toby succeeded in stopping the horses quite near the Esplanade de? Invalided, and it -was there I took a carriage to return home." " Thank? to you for your information ; p9rhap^ later we may be able to profit by it. For the moment it is important that Mademoiselle de Meneignac should not be deprived of your care. We will now return to De Sartilly'h house, to see if his coupe ha^ come back '" At the moment that the Captain carelessly f-poke the=e last words, the physician wa? announced. This doctor was an old friend of the De Men*ignac family, in whom Sartilly had perfect confidence, as he had known him for a long time ; and his arrival changed the whole scene, as the two friends and Miss Georgina went with him into the sick girl's room ; the faithful Julia making a sign that her mistress was still eleeping. They heard Jeanne's soft and regular breathing, and this healthful eleep had brought the colour back to her face. Sartilly watched the doctor's face attentively, and saw him smile when he leaned over the wounded girl to examine her bloody forehead. "It is morely a scratch," said the doctor ; " and it would be useless to awaken the patient, as ten or twelve hours' sleep will be more salutary than my remedies. I will come back again to-morrow morning." " Her nurse will be sufficient to nurse her, will ehe not, doctor ?" asked the Captain. " She will do very well, indeed, for above 3.XI things ehe muet be kept calm."

"You hear, Julia," said the Captain, addressing himself to her ; and he whispered in her oar, while going out : •' Think of the twenty-five louis d'org, and never leave her alone." And an instant after the two friends went away. The doctor had also loft after completely removing their fears ; and Sartilly, wholly upset by so many successive agitations, was leaning on the Captain's arm who said to him, calmly • " think we have put our Hands upon De NoreiTa accomplices ; and now let us go and see if Toby has had the impudence to come back."