[Captain Fracasse by Theophile Gautier]@TWC D-Link book
Captain Fracasse

CHAPTER XVII
16/33

Go! run quickly! What are you about there ?--don't you understand me?
Go, I say, and run as fast as you can; take the fleetest horse in the stable." Whereupon two of the imperturbable lackeys, who had held their torches throughout this exciting scene without moving a muscle, hastened off to execute their master's orders.

Some of his own servants now came forward, raised up the unconscious Duke of Vallombreuse with every possible care and precaution, and by his father's command carried him to his own room and laid him on his own bed, the aged prince following, with a face from which grief and anxiety had already driven away all traces of anger.

He saw his race extinct in the death of this son, whom he so dearly loved--despite his fault--and whose vices he forgot for the moment, remembering only his brilliant and lovable qualities.

A profound melancholy took complete possession of him, as he stood for a few moments plunged in a sorrowful reverie that everybody respected.
Isabelle, entirely revived, and no longer feeling at all faint, bad risen to her feet, and now stood between de Sigognac and the tyrant, adjusting, with a trembling hand, her disordered dress and dishevelled hair.

Lampourde and Scapin had retired to a little distance from them, and held themselves modestly aloof, whilst the men within, still bound hand and foot, kept as quiet as possible; fearful of their fate if brought to the prince's notice.


<<Back  Index  Next>>

D-Link book Top

TWC mobile books