TO
RALPH STUART, Esq.
My dear Mr. Stuart: I dedicate this book to you as a memento of our delightful hours of travel and work together in writing the play—“A Courier of Fortune”—founded upon this story. The circumstances of our joint literary work were as unusual to me as they were fascinating; for, although the play was commenced in London, the last “curtain” was not written until my wife and I had crossed the Atlantic and journeyed with you on a tour of over ten thousand miles of railway travelling, through so many of the marvels of this wonderful Continent. St. Louis; Denver; Salt Lake City; San Francisco; the Pacific Seaboard north to Puget Sound; the fertile Palouse Country; Washington, Idaho, and Montana—those wealthy States of boundless promise and marvellous scenic contrasts; the cities of the Lakes, Duluth and Superior; then the young giant twins, St. Paul and Minneapolis; and by way of Milwaukee and Chicago to New York. A tour of momentous interest and a collaboration of close-knit sympathy, cementing a friendship which, I assure you, is one of the pleasantest things of my life.
Yours ever,
Arthur W. Marchmont.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | The “Tiger of Morvaix” | [ 1] |
| II. | The Maison de Malincourt | [ 10] |
| III. | Sinister Hints | [ 21] |
| IV. | The Duke’s Proposal | [ 33] |
| V. | The Tiger’s Claws | [ 43] |
| VI. | “I Am Known as Gerard de Cobalt” | [ 56] |
| VII. | At Malincourt | [ 68] |
| VIII. | The Plot Thickens | [ 81] |
| IX. | What Denys Knew | [ 94] |
| X. | The Accusation | [ 107] |
| XI. | The Duke’s Sentence | [ 118] |
| XII. | Gabrielle’s Friend | [ 130] |
| XIII. | Discovery | [ 145] |
| XIV. | “I am not Gerard de Cobalt” | [ 156] |
| XV. | A Prisoner | [ 168] |
| XVI. | Pascal and the Spy | [ 180] |
| XVII. | Gabrielle Pleads | [ 190] |
| XVIII. | In the “Tiger’s Den” | [ 201] |
| XIX. | A Life and Death Struggle | [ 214] |
| XX. | A Dash for the Walls | [ 226] |
| XXI. | At Malincourt Again | [ 237] |
| XXII. | Pascal Plays Spy | [ 248] |
| XXIII. | Lucette as Decoy | [ 259] |
| XXIV. | Suspense | [ 272] |
| XXV. | A Ruse | [ 284] |
| XXVI. | At the City Gates | [ 295] |
| XXVII. | Hunted | [ 308] |
| XXVIII. | A Rising and its Sequel | [ 322] |
| XXIX. | In the Hall of Audience | [ 333] |
| XXX. | The Troops March | [ 349] |
A COURIER OF FORTUNE
CHAPTER I
THE “TIGER OF MORVAIX”
THE hot noontide sun was pouring down into the market place of Morvaix and in the shadow cast by the great Cross of St. Jean in the centre, a handsome but very soberly dressed cavalier was sheltering from the fierce July heat and closely observing the townspeople as they clustered here and there to engage in eager animated discussion. Every now and then he cast sweeping impatient glances in all directions in evident search of some one whose delay irritated him.
It was plain even to a stranger’s eyes that the townsfolk were greatly excited, and that the reason which had drawn the people from their houses was both urgent and disturbing. All classes were present—burghers, merchants, shopkeepers, workmen, ’prentices, down to the poorest of the labourers and peasants. Men, women and children alike were gathered there; the men set-faced and bitter, the women sad and anxious. Discontent, anger, fear and sorrow were the emotions evinced among all save the many soldiers who moved among the excited knots, with leers for the women and oaths for the men, and jibes and ribald laughter one to another.