“Dear friend, you know the house as well as I do myself. Take the keys and show Monsieur Lubin all over it. I am sure you will be delighted to act as guide to such patriots.”
I led them to the cellars, where they turned over the piles of faggots, and drank a fairly large number of bottles of wine; after which Lubin staved in the full casks with the butt end of his gun, and leaving the cellar flooded with wine, gave the signal of departure. I conducted them out as far as the gate, which I shut on their very heels, and then ran back to let Madame de Luzy know that we were out of danger.
When she heard this, she bent her head over the side of the bed next the wall, and called—
“Monsieur Planchonnet! Monsieur Planchonnet!”
A faint sigh was the response.
“God be praised!” she exclaimed. “Monsieur Planchonnet, you occasioned me the most appalling fear. I thought you were dead.”
Then turning towards me—
“My poor friend, you used to take so much delight in declaring, from time to time, that you loved me; you will never tell me so again!”
THE BOON OF DEATH BESTOWED
TO ALBERT TOURNIER