‘How did you catch this pretty bird?’ asked Lauzun of one of the valets.
‘Monsieur,’ replied the fellow, ‘we had scoured all the streets in the quartier without meeting one eligible grisette—for it is now late, when Laurent saw a light in a window of the Rue des Cordeliers. I climbed up——’
‘No—it was I that first climbed, monsieur,’ interrupted his fellow.
‘Silence! you knaves,’ cried Lauzun, ‘or we will prevent each of you from speaking, by splitting your tongues now and here. Go on, Laurent.’
‘I climbed up, and saw through the casement our captive retiring to bed—at least she was partly undressed; and I said to Barnard, “This is our prey.”’
‘And you nearly lost her, because you would keep looking,’ said his fellow.
‘Will you be quiet, sir?’ asked Lauzun with a threatening look. ‘Well, what did you do next?’
‘We set fire to the outer wood-work of the house, and then raised the cry Au feu! In half a minute our beauty rushed into the street, as you now see her. We heard the Garde Bourgeois approaching; we hurried her off to the chaise à porteurs we had at the corner—brought her to the porte-derobée—and here we are.’[17]
‘You may remove the bandage just at present,’ said Lauzun. ‘We should like to see what sort of eyes it veils.’
The valets took the fillet away from her face, and in a second the Marchioness recognised the features of Louise Gauthier, whom she had not seen since the evening of the stormy interview in the Grotto of Thetis during the fetes at Versailles. She did not, of course, make herself known; but at that instant, in the midst of all her anxiety to reach the Hôtel d’Aubray without the knowledge of her brother, a second thought for the time detained her. An opportunity appeared likely to occur of accomplishing the determination she had formed—of getting Louise Gauthier in her power and destroying her. She drew herself away from Lauzun’s side, and, retreating to one of the couches, awaited the proper time to carry her project into execution.