No Surrender! A Tale of the Rising in La VendeeHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
History
No Surrender! A Tale of the Rising in La Vendee
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
France -- History -- Wars of the Vendée, 1793-1832 -- Juvenile fiction; Vendée (France) -- History -- Juvenile fiction
"Say no more about that, monsieur; you have paid me well for it
and, moreover, I am not a bad fellow, though at present I am
obliged to appear to be a strong supporter of the people in Paris.
Now, if you will put on your hat and come along with me, I will
leave you a short distance from the hotel de ville, to which I have
access at all hours. I shall of course simply put, in the passport,
that you are travelling to Paris on private matters, and that you
will stay with your friend, citizen Tourrier, in the rue des
Halles."
A quarter of an hour later Leigh returned to the auberge, furnished
with the required paper. The adjoint had said, on handing it to
him:
"I shall not come round tomorrow. We met as strangers yesterday,
and it is as well I should not appear to be intimate with you. But
should you find yourself in any difficulty, send for me at once,
and I will soon set matters right."
"Is it all satisfactorily arranged, monsieur?" the hotel keeper
asked, when Leigh returned.
"Perfectly. Your friend has done even more than he promised."
And he told him of the change that had been made in the plans.
"That is certainly better. I have been wondering, myself, how you
would ever be able to get away from Marseilles. Now it seems
comparatively easy. I have no doubt that my cousin's friends in
Paris will be able to get you another pass, or to put you in the
way of travelling to one of the ports; though no doubt it will be
almost as difficult to get away, from there, as from Marseilles."
"I think that could be managed, landlord. I am a pretty good
sailor, and there ought to be no great difficulty in getting hold
of a boat and making out to sea and, when once away, I could steer
for England, or get on board some vessel bound there."
He tapped at his sister's door. She was still up.
"You are very late, Leigh."
"Yes, but you will be able to sleep as long as you like tomorrow,
as we are not going to start till next day, and are then going
north instead of south. Our paper has been changed for Paris,
instead of Marseilles; and we are going to the house of a cousin of
the man who gave me the pass, so we shall be safe so far; and ought
to have no difficulty, whatever, in journeying from there either to
Havre or one of the northern ports. I will tell you all about it,
tomorrow."
They passed the next day quietly, and both felt better for the
short rest. In addition to the pass, the adjoint had given Leigh a
note to his cousin. It was unsealed, and read:
"My dear Cousin,
"The bearer of this is Monsieur Porson, and his sister, Madame
Martin, of whom I wrote to you. You will find them amiable people,
who will give you but little trouble. I have assured them that they
will find themselves very comfortable with you, and that you will
do all in your power for them, for the sake of your affectionate
cousin.
"Simon Valles,
"Adjoint to the maire of Arthenay."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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