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"indeed, I have sometimes fancied since that the flower-garden, to which the only access from the castle was through his rooms, was designed in order to give me exercise and employment under his own eye."
In part 2 of our story, we find Anna and Amante only steps away seeing another side of her husband of their home. What do we owe our loved ones? Is trust not part of a happy marriage? In this Elizabeth Gaskell tale, narrator Rae Wilson invites us to explore those very questions.
Music and Sound Effects by:
No Way Out - by David Robson
The Mooche by Duke Ellington
"Sneaky Snitch" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
ā Support this podcast on Patreon āIn the oral tradition of storytelling, Echoes in the Dark, delivers classic works of gothic fiction weekly. Hosted and curated by Ms. Rae (an award-winning educator, actor, and literary analyst) the collection of stories spans popular works by authors like Edgar Allan PoeĀ as well as lesser known works by authors such as Guy de Maupassant. Each story is followed by a literary analysis.Ā
If youāre looking to enjoy more classic literature, struggle to find the time to read, hate reading, or just love listening to stories, then this podcast is for you.Ā
A Note on Content: While these stories are generally appropriate for listeners aged 12 and up, classic Gothic literature frequently explores themes of murder, romantic affairs, and "tortured souls." Stories are performed exactly as written in their original historical context.Ā
If you are looking to learn more ways to boost your literary analysis visit:
Speaker 1: Welcome to Echoes in the
Dark, a podcast dedicated to the
oral
Speaker 1: tradition of
storytelling.
Speaker 1: If you're looking to
enjoy more classic literature,
struggle
Speaker 1: to find the time to read,
hate reading, or just love listening
Speaker 1: to stories, then this
podcast is for you.
Speaker 1: At the end of each story,
I'll share my analysis on the
story's
Speaker 1: deeper meanings.
Speaker 1: The Grey Woman by Mrs.
Speaker 1: Gaskell.
Speaker 1: In part one of this
story, our narrator and her friend
are attracted
Speaker 1: to a painting of a young
woman in the 1780s.
Speaker 1: We are reading a letter
that the young woman wrote to her
own
Speaker 1: daughter, who had hoped
to get married, but learns that her
Speaker 1: mother, Anna, is
vehemently opposed to this marriage.
Speaker 1: Anna writes of her youth
in meeting Monsieur de la Tourelle
Speaker 1: at a friend's home,
feeling as though she is forced into
marriage
Speaker 1: and finding once married
that she feels like a prisoner in
the
Speaker 1: French castle, which she
is the mistress of.
Speaker 1: With the help of her maid
Amante, she decides to sneak into
Speaker 1: her husband's room to
retrieve a letter from her father in
Germany.
Speaker: If you haven't listened to
part one, please go back and listen,
Speaker: then come back here to
enjoy part two.
Speaker: And now The Grey Woman by
Mrs.
Speaker: Gaskell.
Speaker 1: It was past eleven before
we set out, with cat like steps and
Speaker 1: veiled light along the
passages, to go to my husband's room
Speaker 1: and steal my own letter,
if it was indeed there, a fact about
Speaker 1: which Amonte had become
very uncertain in the progress of
our
Speaker 1: discussion.
Speaker 1: To make you understand my
story, I must now try to explain to
Speaker 1: you the plan of the
chateau.
Speaker 1: It had been at one time a
fortified place of some strength,
Speaker 1: perched on the summit of
a rock which projected from the side
Speaker 1: of the mountain.
Speaker 1: But additions had been
made to the old building, which must
Speaker 1: have borne a strong
resemblance to the castles
overhanging the
Speaker 1: Rhine, and these new
buildings were placed so as to
command
Speaker 1: a magnificent view, being
on the steepest side of the rock,
Speaker 1: from which the mountain
fell away, as it were, leaving the
great
Speaker 1: plain of France in full
survey.
Speaker 1: The ground plan was
something of the shape of three
sides of
Speaker 1: an obelong.
Speaker 1: My apartments in the
modern edifice occupied the narrow
end
Speaker 1: and had this grand
prospect.
Speaker 1: The front of the castle
was old and ran parallel to the road
Speaker 1: far below.
Speaker 1: In this were contained
the offices and public rooms of
various
Speaker 1: descriptions into which I
never penetrated.
Speaker 1: The back wing,
considering the new building in
which my apartments
Speaker 1: were as the center,
consisted of many rooms, of a dark
and gloomy
Speaker 1: character, as the
mountainside shut out much of the
sun, and
Speaker 1: heavy pine woods came
down within a few yards of the
windows.
Speaker 1: Yet on this side, on a
projecting plateau of the rock, my
husband
Speaker 1: had formed the flower
garden of which I have spoken, for
he
Speaker 1: was a great cultivator of
flowers in his leisure moments.
Speaker 1: Now, my bedroom was the
corner room of the new buildings on
Speaker 1: the part next to the
mountain.
Speaker 1: Hence, I could have let
myself down into the flower garden
by
Speaker 1: my hands on the
windowsill on one side, without
danger of hurting
Speaker 1: myself, while the windows
at the right angles with these
looked
Speaker 1: sheered down a descent of
a hundred feet at least.
Speaker 1: Going still farther along
this wing, you came to the old
building.
Speaker 1: In fact, these two
fragments of the ancient castle had
formerly
Speaker 1: been attached by some
such connecting apartments as my
husband
Speaker 1: had rebuilt.
Speaker 1: These rooms belonged to
Monsieur de la Tourelle.
Speaker 1: His bedroom opened into
mine, his dressing room lay beyond,
Speaker 1: and that was pretty
nearly all I knew, for the servants,
as
Speaker 1: well as he himself, had a
knack of turning me back under some
Speaker 1: pretense, if ever they
found me walking about alone, as I
was
Speaker 1: inclined to do when first
I came, from a sort of curiosity to
Speaker 1: see the whole of the
place of which I found myself
mistress,
Speaker 1: Monsieur de la Torrell
never encouraged me to go out alone,
Speaker 1: either in a carriage or
for a walk, saying always that the
roads
Speaker 1: were unsafe in those
disturbed times.
Speaker 1: Indeed, I have sometimes
fancied since that the flower
garden,
Speaker 1: to which the only access
from the castle was through his
rooms,
Speaker 1: was designed in order to
give me exercise and employment
under
Speaker 1: his own eye.
Speaker 1: But to return to that
night, I knew, as I have said, that
Monsieur
Speaker 1: de la Tourell's private
room opened out of his dressing
room,
Speaker 1: and this out of his
bedroom, which again opened into
mine, the
Speaker 1: corner room.
Speaker 1: But there were other
doors into all these rooms, and
these doors
Speaker 1: led into a long gallery,
lighted by windows, looking into the
Speaker 1: inner court.
Speaker 1: I do not remember our
consulting much about it.
Speaker 1: We went through my room,
into my husband's apartment, through
Speaker 1: the dressing room, but
the door of communication into his
study
Speaker 1: was locked, so there was
nothing for it but to turn back and
Speaker 1: go by the gallery to the
other door.
Speaker 1: I recollect noticing one
or two things in these rooms.
Speaker 1: Then, seen by me for the
first time, I remember the sweet
perfume
Speaker 1: that hung in the air, the
scent bottles of silver that decked
Speaker 1: his toilet table, and the
whole apparatus for bathing and
dressing
Speaker 1: more luxurious even than
those which he had prepared for me.
Speaker: But the room itself was
less splendid in its proportions
than
Speaker:mine.
Speaker: In truth, the new buildings
ended at the entrance to my
husband's
Speaker: dressing room.
Speaker 1: There were deep window
recesses and walls eight or nine
feet
Speaker 1: thick, and even the
partitions between the chambers were
three
Speaker 1: feet deep.
Speaker 1: But over all these doors
or windows there fell thick, heavy
Speaker 1: draperies, so that I
should think no one could have heard
in
Speaker 1: one room what passed in
another.
Speaker 1: We went back into my room
and out into the gallery.
Speaker 1: We had to shade our
candle for a fear that possessed us.
Speaker 1: I don't know why, least
some of the servants in the opposite
Speaker 1: wing might trace our
progress towards the part of the
castle
Speaker 1: unused by anyone except
my husband.
Speaker 1: Somehow, I had always the
feeling that all the domestics,
except
Speaker 1: Amante, were spies upon
me, and that I was trammed in a web
Speaker 1: of observation and
unspoken limitation extending over
all my
Speaker 1: actions.
Speaker 1: There was a light in the
upper room.
Speaker 1: We paused.
Speaker 1: An amonte would have
again retreated, but I was chafing
under
Speaker 1: the delays.
Speaker 1: What was the harm of my
seeking my father's unopened letter
Speaker 1: to me in my husband's
study?
Speaker 1: I, generally the coward,
now blamed Monty for her unusual
timidity.
Speaker 1: But the truth was she had
far more reason for suspicion as to
Speaker 1: the proceedings of that
terrible household than I had ever
known
Speaker 1: of.
Speaker 1: I urged her on.
Speaker 1: I pressed on myself.
Speaker 1: We came to the door,
locked, but with the key in it, we
turned
Speaker 1: it.
Speaker 1: We entered.
Speaker 1: The letters lay on the
table, their white oblongs catching
the
Speaker 1: light in an instant and
revealing themselves to my eager
eyes,
Speaker 1: hungering after the words
of love from my peaceful, distant
Speaker 1:home.
Speaker 1: But just as I pressed
forward to examine the letters, the
candle,
Speaker 1: which Amante held, caught
in some draught, went out, and we
Speaker 1: were in darkness.
Speaker 1: Amante proposed that we
should carry the letters back to my
Speaker 1: salon, collecting them as
well as we could in the dark, and
Speaker 1: returning all but the
expected one for me.
Speaker 1: But I begged her to
return to my room where I kept
tinder and
Speaker 1: flint, and to strike a
fresh light, and so she went.
Speaker 1: And I remained alone in
the room, of which I could only just
Speaker 1: distinguish the size and
the principal articles of furniture.
Speaker 1: A large table with a deep
overhanging cloth in the middle,
esquitars
Speaker 1: and other heavy articles
against the walls.
Speaker: All this I could see as I
stood there, my hand on the table
close
Speaker: by the letters, my face
towards the window, which, both from
the
Speaker: darkness of the wood
growing high up the mountainside,
and the
Speaker: faint light of the
declining moon, seemed only like an
oblong
Speaker: of paler purpler black than
the shadowy room.
Speaker: How much I remembered from
my one instantaneous glance before
Speaker: the candle went out, how
much I saw as my eyes became
accustomed
Speaker: to the darkness.
Speaker: I do not know, but even now
in my dreams, comes up that room of
Speaker: horror, distinct in its
profound shadow.
Speaker: Amante could hardly have
been gone a minute before I felt an
additional
Speaker: gloom before the window,
and heard soft movements outside,
soft
Speaker: but resolute, and continued
until the end was accomplished, and
Speaker: the window raised.
Speaker 1: In mortal terror of
people forcing an entrance at such
an hour
Speaker 1: and in such a manner as
to leave no doubt of their purpose,
Speaker 1: I would have turned to
fly when first I heard the noise
only
Speaker 1: that I feared by any
quick motion to catch their
attention,
Speaker 1: as I also ran the danger
of doing by opening the door which
Speaker 1: was all but closed, and
to whose handlings I was
unaccustomed.
Speaker 1: Again, quick as
lightning, I bethought me of the
hiding place
Speaker 1: between the lock door of
my husband's dressing room and the
Speaker 1: portier which covered it.
Speaker 1: But I gave that up.
Speaker 1: I felt as if I could not
reach it without screaming or
fainting.
Speaker 1: So I sank down softly and
crept under the table, hidden, as
Speaker 1: I hoped, by the great
deep tablecloth with its heavy
fringe.
Speaker: I had not recovered my
swooning senses fully and was trying
to
Speaker: reassure myself as to my
being in a place of comparative
safety,
Speaker: for, above all things, I
dreaded the betrayal of fainting,
and
Speaker: struggled hard for such
courage as I might attain by
detonating
Speaker: to the danger I was in, by
inflicting intense pain on myself.
Speaker: You've often asked me the
reason of that mark on my hand It
was
Speaker: where in my agony I bit out
a piece of flesh with my relentless
Speaker: teeth, thankful for the
pain, which helped to numb my
terror.
Speaker: I say I was but just
concealed when I heard the window
lifted
Speaker: and one after another
stepped over the sill and stood by
me so
Speaker: close that I could have
touched their feet.
Speaker: Then they laughed and
whispered, my brain swam so that I
could
Speaker: not tell the meaning of the
words.
Speaker: But I heard my husband's
laughter among the rest, low,
hissing,
Speaker: scornful, as he kicked
something heavy that they had
dragged in
Speaker: over the floor, and which
lay near me.
Speaker: So near that my husband's
kick and touching it touched me too.
Speaker: I don't know why, I can't
tell how, but some feeling and not
curiosity
Speaker: prompted me to put out my
hand ever softly, ever so little,
and
Speaker: feel in the darkness for
what lay spurned beside me.
Speaker 1: I stole my groping palm
upon the clenched and chilly hand of
Speaker 1: a corpse.
Speaker: Strange to say, this roused
me to instant vividness of thought.
Speaker: Till this moment I had
almost forgotten Amante Now.
Speaker 1: I planned with feverish
rapidity how I could give her
warning
Speaker 1: not to return, or rather,
I should say, I tried to plan, for
Speaker 1: all the projects were
utterly futile, as I might have seen
from
Speaker 1: the first.
Speaker: I could only hope she would
hear the voices of those who were
Speaker: now busy in trying to
kindle a light, swearing awful oaths
at
Speaker: the mislaid articles which
would have enabled them to strike
fire.
Speaker: I heard her step outside
coming nearer and nearer.
Speaker: I saw from my hiding place
the line of light beneath the door
Speaker: more and more distinctly.
Speaker: Close to it her footstep
pause.
Speaker 1: The men inside at the
time I thought they had been only
two,
Speaker 1: but I found out
afterwards there were three, paused
in their
Speaker 1: endeavors, and were quite
still, as breathless as myself, I
Speaker 1:suppose.
Speaker 1: Then she slowly pushed
the door open with gentle motion to
save
Speaker 1: her flickering candle
from being again extinguished.
Speaker 1: For a moment all was
still.
Speaker 1: Then I heard my husband
say as he advanced toward her, he
wore
Speaker 1: riding boots, the shape
of which I knew well, as I could see
Speaker 1: them in the light.
Speaker: Amante, may I ask what
brings you here to my private room?
Speaker 1: He stood between her and
the dead body of a man from which
ghastly
Speaker 1: heap I shrank away as it
almost touched me.
Speaker: So close were we all
together, I could not tell whether
she saw
Speaker: it or not.
Speaker: I could give her no
warning, nor make any dumb utterance
of signs
Speaker: to bid her what to say, if
indeed I knew myself what would be
Speaker: best for her to say.
Speaker 1: Her voice was quiet,
changed when she spoke, quite hoarse
and
Speaker 1: very low, yet it was
steady enough as she said, What was
the
Speaker 1: truth that she had come
to look for a letter which she
believed
Speaker 1: had arrived for me from
Germany?
Speaker 1: Good, brave Amante, not a
word about me.
Speaker 1: Monsieur de la Torre
answered with a grim of blasphemy
and a
Speaker 1: fearful threat.
Speaker 1: He would have no one
prying into his premises.
Speaker 1: Madame should have her
letters if there were any, when he
chose
Speaker 1: to give them to her, if,
indeed, he thought it well to give
Speaker 1: them to her at all.
Speaker 1: As for Amante, this was
her first warning, but it was also
her
Speaker 1: last, and taking the
candle out of her hand, he turned
her out
Speaker 1: of the room.
Speaker 1: His companions discreetly
making a screen so as to throw the
Speaker 1: corpse into deep shadow,
I heard the key turn in the door
after
Speaker 1: her.
Speaker 1: If I had ever had any
thought of escape it was gone now.
Speaker: I only hoped that whatever
was to befall me might soon be over
Speaker: for the tension of nerve
was growing more than I could bear.
Speaker: The instant she could be
supposed to be out of hearing, two
voices
Speaker: began speaking in the most
angry terms to my husband,
upbraiding
Speaker: him for not having detained
her, gagged her, nay, one was for
Speaker: killing her, saying he had
seen her eye fall on the face of the
Speaker: dandman whom he now kicked
in his passion.
Speaker: Though the form of their
speech was as if they were speaking
to
Speaker: equals, yet in their tone
there was something of fear.
Speaker: I'm sure my husband was
their superior captain of somewhat.
Speaker: He replied to them almost
as if he were scoffing at them,
saying
Speaker: it was such an expenditure
of labor having to do with fools,
that
Speaker: ten to one the woman was
only telling the simple truth, and
that
Speaker: she was frightened enough
by discovering her master in his
room
Speaker: to be thankful to escape
and return to her mistress, to whom
he
Speaker: could easily explain on the
morrow how he happened to return in
Speaker: the dead of night.
Speaker: But his companions fell to
cursing me and saying that since
Monsieur
Speaker: de La Torelle had been
married, he was fit for nothing but
to
Speaker: dress himself fine and
scent himself with perfume, that as
for
Speaker: me, they could have got him
twenty girls prettier, and with far
Speaker: more spirit in them.
Speaker: He quietly answered that I
suited him, and that was enough.
Speaker: All this time they were
doing something I could not see what
to
Speaker: the corpse.
Speaker 1: Sometimes they were too
busy rifling the dead body, I
believe,
Speaker 1: to talk.
Speaker 1: Again, they let it fall
with a heavy, resistless thud and
took
Speaker 1: to quarrelling.
Speaker 1: They taunted my husband
with angry vehemence, enraged at his
Speaker 1: scoffing and scornful
replies, his mocking laughter.
Speaker: Yes, holding up his poor
dead victim, the better to strip him
Speaker: of whatever he wore that
was valuable.
Speaker: I heard my husband laugh
just as he had done when exchanging
repartees
Speaker: in the little salon of the
Ruberx at Carlsru.
Speaker 1: I hated and dreaded him
from that moment.
Speaker 1: At length, as if to make
an end of the subject, he said with
Speaker 1: cool determination in his
voice Now my friends, what is the
Speaker 1: use of all this talking
when you know in your hearts that if
Speaker 1: I suspected my wife of
knowing more than I choose of my
affairs,
Speaker 1: she would not outlive the
day.
Speaker: Remember Victorine?
Speaker: Because she merely joked
about my affairs in an imprudent
manner
Speaker: and rejected my advice to
keep a prudent tongue, to see what
she
Speaker: liked, but ask nothing and
say nothing.
Speaker 1: She has gone a long
journey longer than to Paris.
Speaker 1: But this one's different
to her.
Speaker 1: We knew all that Madame
Victorine knew.
Speaker 1: She was such a
chatterbox, but this one may find
out a fast
Speaker 1: deal and never breathe a
word about it.
Speaker 1: She is so sly.
Speaker 1: Some fine day we may have
the country raised and the gendarms
Speaker 1: down upon us from
Strasbourg, and all owing to your
pretty doll
Speaker 1: with her cunning ways of
coming over you.
Speaker 1: I think this wells,
Monsieur de la Torelle, a little
from his
Speaker 1: contemptuous
indifference, for he ground an oath
through his
Speaker 1: teeth and said Feel this
dagger is sharp, Henri.
Speaker 1: If my wife breathes a
word, and I am such a fool as not to
have
Speaker 1: stopped her mouth
effectually before she can bring
down gendarms
Speaker 1: upon us, just let that
good still find its way to my heart.
Speaker 1: Let her guess but one
tittle, let her have but one slight
suspicion,
Speaker 1: and I am not a grand
proprietaire, much less imagine that
I
Speaker 1: am a chief of chauffeurs,
and she follows victory on the long
Speaker 1: journey beyond Paris that
very day.
Speaker 1: She'll outwit ya yet, or
I never judged woman well.
Speaker 1: Those still silent ones
are the devil.
Speaker 1: She'll be off during some
of your absences having picked out
Speaker 1: some secret that will
break us all on the wheel.
Speaker 1: Bah said his voice.
Speaker 1: And then in a minute he
added, Let her go if she will.
Speaker 1: But where she goes, I
will follow.
Speaker 1: So don't cry before your
hood.
Speaker 1: By this time they had
nearly stripped the body, and the
conversation
Speaker 1: turned on what they
should do with it.
Speaker 1: I learnt that the dead
man was the Sieur de Poissy, a
neighbouring
Speaker 1: gentleman whom I had
often heard of as hunting with my
husband.
Speaker 1: I had never seen him, but
they spoke as if he had come upon
Speaker 1: them while they were
robbing some cologne merchant,
torturing
Speaker 1: him after the cruel
practice of the chauffeurs, by
roasting
Speaker 1: the feet of their victims
in order to compel them to reveal
Speaker 1: any hidden circumstances
connected with their wealth, of
which
Speaker 1: the chauffeurs afterwards
made use, and this Sieur de Poisset
Speaker 1: coming down upon them and
recognizing Monsieur de la Torelle,
Speaker 1: they had killed him, and
brought him thither.
Speaker 1: After nightfall, I heard
him whom I called my husband laugh,
Speaker 1: his little light laugh as
he spoke of the way in which the
dead
Speaker 1: body had been strapped
before one of the writers, in such a
Speaker 1: way that it appeared to
any passer by as if in truth the
murderer
Speaker 1: were tenderly supporting
some sick person.
Speaker 1: He repeated some mocking
reply of double meaning, which he
himself
Speaker 1: had given to someone who
made inquiry.
Speaker 1: He enjoyed the play upon
words, softly applauding his own
wit,
Speaker 1: and all the time the
poor, helpless, outstretched arms of
the
Speaker 1: dead lay close to his
dainty boot.
Speaker 1: Then another stoop.
Speaker 1: My heart stopped beating
and picked up a letter laying on the
Speaker 1: ground.
Speaker 1: A letter that had dropped
out of Monsieur de Poisset's pocket,
Speaker 1: a letter from his wife,
full of tender words of endearment
and
Speaker 1: pretty babblings of love.
Speaker 1: This was read aloud, with
coarse rebald comments on every
sentence,
Speaker 1: each trying to outdo the
previous speaker.
Speaker 1: When they came to some
pretty words about a sweet Maurice,
their
Speaker 1: little child away with
its mother on some visit, they
laughed
Speaker 1: at Monsieur de la Toreux,
and told him that he would be
hearing
Speaker 1: such woman's drivelling
some day.
Speaker 1: Up to that moment, I
think I had only feared him.
Speaker 1: But his unnatural, half
ferocious reply made me hate him
even
Speaker 1: more than I dreaded him.
Speaker 1: But now they grew weary
of their savage merriment.
Speaker 1: The jewels and watch had
been appraised, the money and papers
Speaker 1: examined, and apparently
there was some necessity for the
body
Speaker 1: being interred quietly
and before daybreak.
Speaker 1: They had not dared to
leave him where he was slain for
fear
Speaker 1: lest people should come
and recognize him, and raise the hue
Speaker 1: and cry upon them.
Speaker 1: For they all along spoke
as if it was their constant endeavor
Speaker 1: to keep the immediate
neighborhood of Le Rocher in the
most
Speaker 1: orderly and tranquil
condition, so as never to give cause
for
Speaker 1: visits from the gendarms.
Speaker 1: They disputed a little as
to whether they should make their
Speaker 1: way into the castle
larder through the gallery, and
satisfy
Speaker 1: their hunger before the
hasty internment or afterwards.
Speaker 1: I listened with eager,
feverish interest as soon as this
meaning
Speaker 1: of their speeches reached
my hoot and troubled my brain, for
Speaker 1: at the time the words
they uttered seemed only to stamp
themselves
Speaker 1: with terrible force on my
memory, so that I could hardly keep
Speaker 1: from repeating them aloud
like a dull, miserable, unconscious
Speaker 1: echo.
Speaker 1: But my brain was numbed
to the sense of what they said,
unless
Speaker 1: I myself were named, and
then I suppose some instinct of self
Speaker 1: preservation stirred
within me and quickened my sense.
Speaker 1: And how I strained my
ears and nerved my hands and limbs
beginning
Speaker 1: to twitch with
convulsion, movements which I feared
might betray
Speaker 1: me.
Speaker 1: I gathered every word
they spoke, not knowing which
proposal
Speaker 1: to wish for, but feeling
that whatever was finally dison upon
Speaker 1: my only chance of escape
would be drawing near.
Speaker 1: I once feared lest my
husband should go to his bedroom
before
Speaker 1: I had had that one
chance, in which case he would most
likely
Speaker 1: have perceived my
absence.
Speaker 1: He said that his hands
were soiled.
Speaker 1: I shuddered, for it might
be with lifeblood.
Speaker 1: And here we go and
cleanse them, but some bitter jest
turned
Speaker 1: his purpose, and he left
the room with the other two, left it
Speaker 1: by the gallery door, left
me alone in the dark with the
stiffening
Speaker 1: corpse.
Speaker 1: Now was my time of error,
and yet I could not move.
Speaker 1: It was not my cramped and
stiffened joints that crippled me.
Speaker 1: It was the sensation of
that dead man's close presence.
Speaker 1: I almost fancied I almost
fancy still.
Speaker 1: I heard the arm nearest
to me move, lift itself up as if
once
Speaker 1: more imploring and fall
in dead despair.
Speaker 1: At that fancy, at fancy
it were, I screamed aloud in mad
terror,
Speaker 1: and the sound of my own
strange voice broke the spell.
Speaker 1: I drew myself to the side
of the table farthest from the
corpse,
Speaker 1: with as much slow caution
as if I could have feared the clutch
Speaker 1: of that poor dead arm,
powerless forevermore.
Speaker 1: I softly raised myself up
and stood sick and trembling,
holding
Speaker 1: by the table too dizzy to
know what to do next.
Speaker 1: I nearly fanted when a
low voice spoke, when Amonty from
the
Speaker 1: outside the door
whispered, Madame, the faithful
creature had
Speaker 1: been on the watch, had
heard my scream, and having seen the
Speaker 1: three ruffians troop
along the gallery down the stairs
and across
Speaker 1: the court to the offices
in the other wing of the castle, she
Speaker 1: had stolen to the door of
the room in which I was.
Speaker 1: The sound of her voice
gave me strength.
Speaker 1: I walked straight towards
it, as one benighted on a dreary
moor,
Speaker 1: suddenly perceiving the
small steady light which tells of
human
Speaker 1: dwellings, takes heart
and steers straight onward.
Speaker 1: Where I was?
Speaker 1: Where that voice was, I
knew not, but go to it I must or
die.
Speaker 1: The door once opened, I
know not by which of us I fell upon
Speaker 1: her neck, grasping her
tight till my hands ached with the
tension
Speaker 1: of their hold.
Speaker 1: Yet she never uttered a
word.
Speaker 1: Only she took me up in
her vigorous arms, and bore me to my
Speaker 1: room and laid me on my
bed.
Speaker 1: I do not know more.
Speaker 1: As soon as I was placed
there I lost sense.
Speaker 1: I came to myself with the
horrible dread lest my husband was
Speaker 1: by me, with the belief
that he was in the room in hiding,
waiting
Speaker 1: to hear my first words,
watching for the least sign of the
terrible
Speaker 1: knowledge I possessed to
murder me.
Speaker 1: I dared not breathe
quicker.
Speaker 1: I measured in time each
heavy inspiration.
Speaker 1: I did not speak nor move
nor even open my eyes.
Speaker 1: For long after I was in
my full my miserable senses.
Speaker 1: I heard someone trending
softly about the room as if with a
Speaker 1: purpose, not as if for
curiosity or merely to beguile the
time.
Speaker 1: Someone passed in and out
of the salon, and I still lay quiet,
Speaker 1: feeling as if death were
inevitable, but wishing that the
agony
Speaker 1: of death were past.
Speaker 1: Again, faintness stole
me.
Speaker 1: But just as I was sinking
into the horrible feeling of
nothingness,
Speaker 1: I heard Amate's voice
close to me saying Drink this,
Madame,
Speaker 1: and let us be gone all is
ready.
Speaker 1: I let her put her arm
under my head and raise me, and pour
something
Speaker 1: down my throat.
Speaker 1: All the time she kept
talking in a quiet, measured voice,
unlike
Speaker 1: her own, so dry and
authoritative.
Speaker 1: She told me that a suit
of her clothes lay ready for me,
that
Speaker 1: she herself was as much
disguised as the circumstances
permitted
Speaker 1: her to be, that what
provisions I had left from my supper
were
Speaker 1: stowed away in her
pockets, and so she went on,
dwelling on
Speaker 1: little details of the
most commonplace description, but
never
Speaker 1: alluding for an instant
to the fearful calls why flight was
Speaker 1:necessary.
Speaker 1: I made no inquiry as to
how she knew or what she knew.
Speaker 1: I never asked her either
then or afterwards.
Speaker 1: I could not bear it.
Speaker 1: We kept our dreadful
secret close, but I suppose she must
have
Speaker 1: been in the dressing room
adjoining and heard all.
Speaker 1: In fact, I dared not
speak even to her, as if they were
anything
Speaker 1: beyond the most common
event in life and are preparing thus
Speaker 1: to leave the house of
blood by stealth in the dead of
night.
Speaker 1: She gave me directions,
short, condensed directions without
Speaker 1: reasons, just as you do
to a child.
Speaker 1: And like a child, I
obeyed her.
Speaker 1: She went often to the
door and listened, and often too,
she
Speaker 1: went to the window and
looked anxiously out.
Speaker 1: For me, I saw nothing but
her, and I dared not let my eyes
wander
Speaker 1: from her for a minute,
and I heard nothing in the deep
midnight
Speaker 1: silence but her soft
movements and the heavy beating of
my own
Speaker 1: heart.
Speaker 1: At last she took my hand
and led me in the dark through the
Speaker 1: salon once more into the
terrible gallery, where, across the
Speaker 1: black darkness the
windows admitted pale sheeted ghosts
of light
Speaker 1: upon the floor.
Speaker 1: Clinging to her I went
unquestioning, for she was human
sympathy
Speaker 1: to me after the isolation
of my unspeakable terror.
Speaker 1: On we went, turning to
the left instead of to the right,
past
Speaker 1: my suite of sitting rooms
where the gilding was red with
blood,
Speaker 1: into that unknown wing of
the castle that fronted the main
road
Speaker 1: lying peril far below.
Speaker 1: She guided me along the
basement passages to which we had
now
Speaker 1: descended, until we came
to a little open door, through which
Speaker 1: the air blew chill and
cold, bringing for the first time a
cessation
Speaker 1: of life to me.
Speaker 1: The door led into a kind
of cellar, through which we groped
Speaker 1: our way to an opening
like a window, but which, instead of
being
Speaker 1: glazed, was once fenced
with iron bars, two of which were
loose,
Speaker 1: as Ament evidently knew,
for she took them out with the ease
Speaker 1: of one who had performed
the action often before, and then
helped
Speaker 1: me to follow her out into
the free open air.
Speaker 1: We stole round the end of
the building and on turning the
corner.
Speaker 1: She first I felt her hold
on me tighten for an instant, and
Speaker 1: the next step I too heard
distant voices and the blows of a
Speaker 1: spade upon the heavy
soil, for the night was very warm
and still.
Speaker 1: We had not spoken a word.
Speaker 1: We did not speak now.
Speaker 1: The touch was safer and
as expressive.
Speaker 1: She turned down towards
the high road.
Speaker 1: I followed.
Speaker 1: I did not know the path.
Speaker 1: We stumbled again and
again, and I was much bruised.
Speaker 1: So doubtless was she, but
bodily pain did be good.
Speaker 1: At last we were on the
planar path of the high road.
Speaker 1: I had such faith in her
that I did not venture to speak even
Speaker 1: when she paused, as
wondering to which hand she should
turn.
Speaker 1: But now, for the first
time she spoke.
Speaker 1: Which way did you come
when he brought you here first?
Speaker 1: I pointed, I could not
speak.
Speaker 1: We turned in the opposite
direction, still going along the
high
Speaker 1: road, in about an hour we
struck up to the mountainside,
scrambling
Speaker 1: far up before we even
dared to rest.
Speaker 1: Far up and away again
before day had fully dawned.
Speaker 1: Then we looked about for
some place of rest and concealment,
Speaker 1: and now we dared to speak
in whispers.
Speaker 1: Amante told me that she
had locked the door of communication
Speaker 1: between his bedroom and
mine, and as in a dream, I was aware
Speaker 1: that she had also locked
and brought away the key of the door
Speaker 1: between the latter and
the salon.
Speaker 1: He will have been too
busy this night to think much about
you.
Speaker 1: He will suppose you are
asleep.
Speaker 1: I shall be the first to
be missed, but they will only just
now
Speaker 1: be discovering our loss.
Speaker 1: I remember those last
words of hers made me pray to go on.
Speaker 1: I felt as if we were
losing precious time in thinking
either
Speaker 1: of rest or concealment,
but she hardly replied to me, so
busy
Speaker 1: was she in seeking out
some hiding place.
Speaker 1: At length, giving it up
in despair, we proceeded onwards a
little
Speaker 1: way.
Speaker 1: The mountainside sloped
downwards rapidly, and in the full
morning
Speaker 1: light we saw ourselves in
a narrow valley, made by a stream
Speaker 1: which forced its way
along it.
Speaker 1: About a mile lower down
there rose the pale blue smoke of a
Speaker 1:village.
Speaker 1: The mill will was lashing
up the water close at hand, though
Speaker 1: out of sight.
Speaker 1: Keeping under the cover
of every sheltering tree or bush, we
Speaker 1: worked our way down past
the mill, down to a once arched
bridge,
Speaker 1: which doubtless formed
part of the road between the village
Speaker 1: and the mill.
Speaker 1: This would do, said she,
and we crept under the space and
climbing
Speaker 1: a little way up through
the stonework we seated ourselves on
Speaker 1: a projecting ledge and
crouched in the deep, damp shadow.
Speaker 1: Amante sat a little above
me and made me lay my head on her
Speaker 1:lap.
Speaker 1: Then she fed me and took
some food herself, and opening out
Speaker 1: her great dark cloak she
covered up every light colored speck
Speaker 1: about us, and thus we
sat, shivering and shuddering, yet
feeling
Speaker 1: a kind of rest through it
all simply from the fact that motion
Speaker 1: was no longer imperative,
and that during the daylight our
only
Speaker 1: chance of safety was to
be still.
Speaker 1: But the damp shadow in
which we were sitting was blighting,
Speaker 1: from the circumstance of
the sunlight never penetrating
there,
Speaker 1: and I dread it least.
Speaker 1: Before night and the time
for exertion again came on.
Speaker 1: I should feel illness
creeping all over me.
Speaker 1: To add to our discomfort,
it had rained the whole day long,
Speaker 1: and the stream, fed by a
thousand little mountain brooklets,
Speaker 1: began to swell into a
torrent, rushing over the stones
with
Speaker 1: a perpetual and dizzying
noise.
Speaker 1: Every now and then I was
wakened from the painful doze into
Speaker 1: which I continually fell
by a sound of horses' feet over our
Speaker 1: heads, sometimes
lumbering heavily as if dragging a
burden,
Speaker 1: sometimes rattling and
galloping, and with the sharper cry
of
Speaker 1: men's voices coming
cutting through the war of the
waters.
Speaker 1: At length day fell.
Speaker 1: We had to drop into the
stream which came above our knees as
Speaker 1: we waded to the bank.
Speaker 1: There we stood, stiff and
shivering.
Speaker 1: Even Amante's courage
seemed to fail.
Speaker 1: We must pass this night
in shelter somehow, said she, for
indeed
Speaker 1: the rain was coming down
piteously.
Speaker 1: I said nothing.
Speaker 1: I thought that surely the
end must be death in some shape, and
Speaker 1: I only hoped that to
death might not be added the terror
of
Speaker 1: the cruelty of men.
Speaker 1: In a minute or so she had
resolved on her course of action.
Speaker 1: We went up the stream to
the mill.
Speaker 1: The familiar sounds, the
scents of the wheats, the flower
whitening
Speaker 1: the walls all reminded me
of home, and it seemed to me as if
Speaker 1: I must struggle out of
this nightmare and waken and find
myself
Speaker 1: once more a happy girl by
the neckar side.
Speaker 1: They were long in
unbearing the door at which Amonte
had knocked.
Speaker 1: At length, an old feeble
voice inquired who was there and
what
Speaker 1: was sought.
Speaker 1: Amonte answered shelter
from the storm for two women, but
the
Speaker 1: old woman replied with
suspicious hesitation that she was
sure
Speaker 1: it was a man who was
asking for shelter, and that she
could
Speaker 1: not let us in.
Speaker 1: But at length, she
satisfied herself and unbarred the
heavy
Speaker 1: door and admitted us.
Speaker 1: She was not an unkindly
woman, but her thoughts all
travelled
Speaker 1: in one circle, and that
was that her master, the miller, had
Speaker 1: told her on no account to
let any man into the place during
Speaker 1: his absence, and that she
did not know if he would not think
Speaker 1: to women as bad, and yet
that as we were not men, no one
could
Speaker 1: say she had disobeyed
him, for it was a shame to let a dog
be
Speaker 1: out such a night as this.
Speaker 1: Amante, with ready wit,
told her to let no one know that we
Speaker 1: had taken shelter there
that night, and that then her master
Speaker 1: could not blame her, and
while she was thus enjoying secrecy
Speaker 1: as the wisest course,
with a view to far other people than
the
Speaker 1: miller, she was hastily
helping me take off my wet clothes
and
Speaker 1: spreading them as well as
the brown mantle that had covered
Speaker 1: us both.
Speaker 1: Before the great stove
which warmed the room with the
effectual
Speaker 1: heat that the old woman's
failing vitality required.
Speaker 1: All this time the poor
creature was discussing with herself
Speaker 1: as to whether she had
disobeyed orders in a kind of
garrulous
Speaker 1: way that made me fear
much for her capability of retaining
anything
Speaker 1: secret if she was
questioned.
Speaker 1: By and by she wandered
away to an unnecessary revelation of
Speaker 1: her master's whereabouts,
gone to help in the search of his
Speaker 1: landlord, the Saint de
Poisset, who lived at the chateau
just
Speaker 1: above, and who had not
returned from his chase the day
before.
Speaker 1: So the intendant imagined
he might have met with some accident
Speaker 1: and had summoned the
neighbors to beat the forest in the
hillside.
Speaker 1: She told us much besides,
giving us to understand that she
would
Speaker 1: fain meet with a place as
housekeeper where there were more
Speaker 1: servants and less to do,
as her life here was very lonely and
Speaker 1: dull, especially since
her master's son had gone away gone
to
Speaker 1: the wars.
Speaker 1: She then took her supper,
which was evidently apportioned out
Speaker 1: to her with a sparing
hand, as even if the idea had come
into
Speaker 1: her head, she had not
enough to offer us any.
Speaker 1: Fortunately, warmth was
all that we required, and that,
thanks
Speaker 1: to Amante's cares, was
returning to our chilled bodies.
Speaker 1: After supper, the old
woman grew drowsy, but she seemed
uncomfortable
Speaker 1: at the idea of going to
sleep and leaving us still in the
house.
Speaker 1: Indeed, she gave us
pretty broad hints as to the
propriety of
Speaker 1: our going once more out
into the bleak and stormy night.
Speaker 1: But we begged to be
allowed to stay under shelter of
some kind,
Speaker 1: and at last a bright idea
came over her, and she bade us mount
Speaker 1: by a ladder to a kind of
loft which went half over the lofty
Speaker 1: mill kitchen in which we
were sitting.
Speaker 1: We obeyed her, what else
could we do?
Speaker 1: And found ourselves in a
spacious floor without any safeguard
Speaker 1: or wall, boarding or
railing to keep us from falling over
into
Speaker 1: the kitchen in case we
went too far near the edge.
Speaker 1: It was, in fact, a
storeroom or garret for the
household.
Speaker 1: There was bedding piled
up, boxes and chests, mill sacks,
the
Speaker 1: winter store of apples
and nuts, bundles of old clothes,
broken
Speaker 1: furniture, and many other
things.
Speaker 1: No sooner were we up
there than the old woman dragged the
letter
Speaker 1: by which she had ascended
away with a chuckle, as if she was
Speaker 1: now secure that we could
do no mischief, and sat herself down
Speaker 1: again once more to doze
and await her master's return.
Speaker 1: We pulled out some
bedding and gladly laid ourselves
down in
Speaker 1: our dried clothes and in
some warmth, hoping to have the
sleep
Speaker 1: we so much needed to
refresh us and prepare us for the
next
Speaker 1:day.
Speaker 1: But I could not sleep,
and I was aware from her breathing,
that
Speaker 1: Amante was equally
wakeful.
Speaker 1: We could both see through
the crevices between the boards that
Speaker 1: formed the flooring into
the kitchen below, very partially
lighted
Speaker 1: by the common lamp that
hung against the wall near the stove
Speaker 1: on the opposite side to
that on which we were.
Speaker 1: Far on in the night there
were voices outside reached us in
Speaker 1: her hiding place, an
angry knocking at the door, and we
saw
Speaker 1: through the chinks the
old woman roused herself up to go
and
Speaker 1: open it for her master,
who came in evidently half drunk.
Speaker 1: To my sick horror, he was
followed by Le Ferbre, apparently
Speaker 1: as sober and wily as
ever.
Speaker 1: They were talking
together as they came in, disputing
about
Speaker 1: something, but the miller
stopped the conversation to swear
Speaker 1: at the old woman for
having fallen asleep and And with
tipsy
Speaker 1: anger, and even with
blows, drove the poor old creature
out
Speaker 1: of the kitchen to bed.
Speaker 1: Then he and La Ferbre
went on talking about the Sieur de
Poisset's
Speaker 1: disappearance.
Speaker 1: It seemed that La Ferbre
had been out all day along with
other
Speaker 1: of my husband's men
ostensibly assisting in the search,
and
Speaker 1: all probability trying to
blind the Sieur de Mont Prosset's
Speaker 1: followers by putting them
on a wrong scent, and also, I fancy,
Speaker 1: from one or two of La
Ferbre's sly questions, combining
the
Speaker 1: hint and purpose of
discovering us.
Speaker 1: Although the miller was
tenant and vassal to the Sieur de
Proset,
Speaker 1: he seemed to me to be
much more in league with the people
of
Speaker 1: Monsieur de la Toyel.
Speaker 1: He was evidently aware,
in part, of the life which La Ferre
Speaker 1: and the others led,
although again I do not suppose he
knew
Speaker 1: or imagined one half of
their crimes, and also I think he
was
Speaker 1: seriously interested in
discovering the fate of his master.
Speaker 1: Little suspected Le
Ferbre of murder or violence.
Speaker 1: He kept talking himself
and letting out all sorts of
thoughts
Speaker 1: and opinions watched by
the keen eyes of Le Ferbre gleaming
Speaker 1: out below his shaggy
eyebrows.
Speaker 1: It was evidently not the
cue of the latter to let out that
his
Speaker 1: master's wife had escaped
from that vile and terrible din.
Speaker 1: But though he never
breathed a word relating to us, not
the
Speaker 1: less was I certain he was
thirsting for our blood, and lying
Speaker 1: in wait for us at every
turn of events.
Speaker 1: Presently he got up and
took his leave, and the miller
bolted
Speaker 1: him out and stumbled off
to bed.
Speaker 1: Then we fell asleep, and
slept sound and long.
Speaker 1: The next morning when I
awoke I saw Amante have raised
resting
Speaker 1: on one hand and eagerly
gazing with straining eyes into the
Speaker 1: kitchen below.
Speaker 1: I looked too, and both
heard and saw the miller and two of
his
Speaker 1: men eagerly and loudly
talking about the old woman who had
not
Speaker 1: appeared as usual to make
the fire in the stove, and prepare
Speaker 1: her master's breakfast,
and who now, late on in the morning,
Speaker 1: had been found dead in
her bed.
Speaker 1: Whether from the effect
of her master's blows the night
before,
Speaker 1: or from natural causes,
who can tell?
Speaker 1: The miller's conscience
upbraided him a little, I should
say,
Speaker 1: for he was eagerly
declaring his value for his
housekeeper,
Speaker 1: and repeating how often
she had spoken of the happy life she
Speaker 1: led with him.
Speaker 1: The men might have their
doubts, but they did not wish to
offend
Speaker 1: the miller, and all
agreed that the necessary steps
should be
Speaker 1: taken for a speedy
funeral.
Speaker 1: And so they went out,
leaving us in our loft, but so much
alone
Speaker 1: that for the first time
almost we ventured to speak freely,
Speaker 1: though still in a hushed
voice, pausing to listen
continually.
Speaker 1: Lante took a more
cheerful view of the whole
occurrence than
Speaker 1: I did.
Speaker 1: She said that had the old
woman lived, we should have had to
Speaker 1: depart that morning, and
that this quiet departure would have
Speaker 1: been the best thing we
could have had to hope for, as in
all
Speaker 1: probability the
housekeeper would have told her
master of us
Speaker 1: and of our resting place,
and this fact would sooner or later
Speaker 1: have been brought to the
knowledge of those from whom we most
Speaker 1: desired to keep it
concealed.
Speaker 1: But now that we had time
to rest and a shelter to rest in
during
Speaker 1: the first and hot pursuit
which we knew to a fatal certainty
Speaker 1: was being carried on.
Speaker 1: The remnants of our food
and the stored up fruit would supply
Speaker 1: us with provisions.
Speaker 1: The only thing to be
feared was that something might be
required
Speaker 1: from the loft and the
miller, or someone else mount up in
search
Speaker 1: of it.
Speaker 1: But even then, with a
little arrangement of boxes and
chests,
Speaker 1: one part might be so kept
in shadow that we might yet escape
Speaker 1: observation.
Speaker 1: All this comforted me a
little, but I asked, how are we ever
Speaker 1: to escape?
Speaker 1: The ladder was taken
away, which was our only means of
descent.
Speaker 1: But Amante replied that
she could make a sufficient ladder
of
Speaker 1: the rope lying coiled
among other things to drop us down
the
Speaker 1: ten feet or so, with the
advantage of its being portable, so
Speaker 1: that we might carry it
away and thus avoid all betrayal of
the
Speaker 1: fact that anyone had ever
been hidden in the loft.
Speaker 1: During the two days that
intervened before we did escape,
Amante
Speaker 1: made good use of her
time.
Speaker 1: She looked into every box
and chest during the man's absence
Speaker 1: at his mill, and finding
in one box an old suit of man's
clothes,
Speaker 1: which had probably
belonged to the miller's absent son,
she
Speaker 1: put them on to see if
they would fit her, and when she
found
Speaker 1: they did, she cut her own
hair to the shortness of a man's,
Speaker 1: made me clip her black
eyebrows as close as though they had
Speaker 1: been shaved, and by
cutting up old corks into pieces
such as
Speaker 1: would go into her cheeks,
she altered both the shape of her
Speaker 1: face and her voice to a
degree which I should not have
believed
Speaker 1: possible.
Speaker 1: All this time I lay like
one stunned, my body resting and
renewing
Speaker 1: its strength, but I
myself in an almost idiotic state,
else
Speaker 1: surely I could not have
taken this stupid interest which I
remember
Speaker 1: I did in Alamante's
energetic preparations for disguise.
Speaker 1: I absolutely recollect
once the feeling of a smile coming
over
Speaker 1: my stiff face as some new
exercise of her cleverness proved
Speaker 1: a success.
Speaker 1: But towards the second
day she required me to exert myself,
Speaker 1: and then all my heavy
despair returned.
Speaker 1: I let her dye my fair
hair and complexion with the
decaying
Speaker 1: shells of the stored up
walnuts.
Speaker 1: I let her blacken my
teeth, and even voluntarily broke a
front
Speaker 1: tooth the better to
effect my disguise.
Speaker 1: And through it all I had
no hope of evading my terrible
husband.
Speaker 1: The third night the
funeral was over, the drinking
ended, the
Speaker 1: guests gone, the miller
put to bed by his man being too
drunk
Speaker 1: to help himself.
Speaker 1: They stopped a little
while in the kitchen talking and
laughing
Speaker 1: about the news
housekeeper likely to come, and they
too went
Speaker 1: off, shutting but not
locking the door.
Speaker 1: Everything favoured us.
Speaker 1: Amante had tried her
ladder on one of the two previous
nights
Speaker 1: and could, by dexterous
throw from beneath, unfasten it from
Speaker 1: the hook to which it was
fixed, when it had served its
office.
Speaker 1: She made up a bundle of
worthless old clothes in order that
Speaker 1: we might the better
preserve our characters of a
travelling
Speaker 1: peddler and his wife.
Speaker 1: She stuffed a hump on her
back, she thickened my figure, she
Speaker 1: left her own clothes deep
down beneath a heap of others in a
Speaker 1: chest from which she had
taken the men's dress, which she
wore.
Speaker 1: And with a few francs in
her pocket, the sole money we had
either
Speaker 1: of us had about us when
we escaped, we let ourselves down
the
Speaker 1: ladder, unhooked it, and
passed into the cold darkness of
night
Speaker 1: again.
Speaker 1: We had discussed the
route which it would be well for us
to
Speaker 1: take while we lay perdu
in our loft.
Speaker 1: Amante had told me then
that her reason for inquiring when
we
Speaker 1: first left Le Rocher, by
which I had first been brought to
it,
Speaker 1: was to avoid the pursuit
which she was sure would first be
made
Speaker 1: in the direction of
Germany.
Speaker 1: But that now she thought
we might return to that district of
Speaker 1: country where my German
fashion of speaking French would
excite
Speaker 1: least observation, I
thought about Amante herself had
something
Speaker 1: peculiar in her accent,
which I had heard Monsieur de la
Torelle
Speaker 1: sneer at as Norman
Patois.
Speaker 1: But I said not a word
beyond agreeing to her proposal that
we
Speaker 1: should bend our steps
towards Germany.
Speaker 1: Once there we should, I
thought, be safe.
Speaker 1: Alas, I forgot the unruly
time that was overspreading all
Europe,
Speaker 1: overturning all law, and
all the protection which law gives.
Speaker 1: How we wandered, not
daring to ask our way, how we lived,
how
Speaker 1: we struggled through many
a danger and still more terrors of
Speaker 1: danger I shall not tell
you now.
Speaker 1: I will only relate two of
our adventures before we reached
Frankfurt.
Speaker 1: The first, although fatal
to an innocent lady, was yet, I
believe,
Speaker 1: the cause of my safety.
Speaker 1: The second I shall tell
you that you may understand why I
did
Speaker 1: not return to my former
home, as I had hoped to do when we
lay
Speaker 1: in the miller's loft, and
I first became a little bit of a
little
Speaker 1: bit of a little bit of a
little bit of a future.