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Show I~S THE J.tLY AND THE TOTEM. "We will go with you," cried La RoqucUc and Stephen Lo Gcncvois in the smnc breath. uNo! no! not so!" s:1id I..c Gcnr6. "You have each duties to p~1-form. You must scatter yoursch•cs as much as possible, so as to increase the alarm at the proper moment. There will be little danger, I grant you, with Laudonnicrc, and that imp of the devil, D'J~rlach, out of the wny; but it must be prepared for. Onco show the rest that these arc dono for, and we shall do as we think proper." " Wbnt a fortunntc thing for us is this game of chess. I t dis~ pOs!'s of tlu:l only persons we could not so easily h:wo managed;" said Fourncaux. "lloxcs them up, as one may say, so that they only need a mark upon them to be ready for sl1ipmcnt." "And yet, somehow, I could wish," sa.id Le Genc\•ois, "that l\farchnnU were not amon~ them. I like that fdlO\V. lie is so bold, so blunt, and plays his game just ns if it were his religion." "I could wish to s.we the painter, if any," rcm:u·ked La Roquf'ttc ; " but at all cYents, we shall inherit his pictures." " llnh ! let the devil take him and them together ! Why bother about such stuff; what's hia pictures of tho country to us, when the ..:ountry itaclf is our own, to keep or to qui~ just ns it plea.s::!s us ? "' c nrc wnstin~ time. Whore's Villcmain ?" " IT ere-ready!" "Depart, then," snid J~e GenrC; "the sooner you light the match nftcr you reach my quarters, the better. W c shall be randy for the blast." 11 l[c is gon" !" said Fourncaux. ''Let us follow, and each to his task;" cried Le Genr6. "Each of .. you take care of the flying timbers j find you covers as you THE CO~SPIRACY OF LE GENRt. ]59 mtty. 1\Ty men nrc mustered behind the old grtmary. Adieu., 1ny Jrinul,,-the time has come!'' With these words, the company di.«pcrscd, cacl1 seeking his several position and duty. Let usadjotlrn our progress to tlJC chamber of Lnudonnicre, where that meditative gamester still sits deliberate, with knotted brow, watching the movements of Marchand. CIIAPT£R V. TnE ga.mo "W1l.S still unfinished. The repeater of Alphonse D'Erlach was in his hnnd, ns he entered from his own cha.rnbcr, and threw s. hasty glance across the chcss-bo..'lrd. There Laudonnicrc sa.te, seeing notl1ing but the pieces before him. He was in the brownest of studies. Tiis thoughts were wholly with the game, which had the power of contracting his forehead with a. more serious anxiety than pos.~ibly all the cares of his colony had done. His opponent was tho very personification of well-satisfied indifference. ITe leuncd b..'lCk in his scat, smiling grimly, and with a wink, now nnd then, to tho11c who wa.tchcd nnd wa.ited upon tlte movements of J~audonnierc. Alphonse D'Erlnch smiled also. The slightest shndc of anxiety might be observed upon his brow, and his lips were more rigidly compressed t!Jan usua.l. ITo lenned quietly town.rds the board, tmd rcm:trkcd indiffcrcntly-cc I sec you arc nc:uly :tt tl10 close of your game." cc Indeed!" snid Laudonnicre, with some sharpness in his accents,-" and prny l\Ionsicur Alphonse, how do you sec that f" "You will finish by twch'e," wa.s the reply. cc I see that it now lacks but a few m~utcs of that hour." |
