The Paris Sketch Book of Mr. M. A. Titmarsh; and the Irish Sketch BookThackeray, William Makepeace
General
The Paris Sketch Book of Mr. M. A. Titmarsh; and the Irish Sketch Book
Thackeray, William Makepeace
Ireland -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- Description and travel
Having thus primed his audience, and prepared them for the testimony of
the accused party, ‘Now,’ says he, with a fine show of justice, ‘let us
hear Monsieur Peytel;’ and that worthy’s narrative is given as
follows:--
‘He said that he had left Mâcon on the 31st October, at eleven
o’clock in the morning, in order to return to Belley, with his wife
and servant. The latter drove, or led, an open car; he himself was
driving his wife in a four-wheeled carriage, drawn by one horse:
they reached Bourg at five o’clock in the evening; left it at
seven, to sleep at Pont d’Ain, where they did not arrive before
midnight. During the journey, Peytel thought he remarked that Rey
had slackened his horse’s pace. When they alighted at the inn,
Peytel bade him deposit in his chamber 7500 francs, which he
carried with him; but the domestic refused to do so, saying that
the inn gates were secure, and there was no danger. Peytel was,
therefore, obliged to carry his money upstairs himself. The next
day, the 1st November, they set out on their journey again, at nine
o’clock in the morning; Louis did not come, according to custom, to
take his master’s orders. They arrived at Tenay about three,
stopped there a couple of hours to dine, and it was eight o’clock
when they reached the bourg of Rossillon, where they waited half an
hour to bait the horses.
‘As they left Rossillon, the weather became bad, and the rain began
to fall: Peytel told his domestic to get a covering for the
articles in the open chariot; but Rey refused to do so, adding, in
an ironical tone, that the weather was fine. For some days past,
Peytel had remarked that his servant was gloomy, and scarcely spoke
at all.
‘After they had gone about five hundred paces beyond the bridge of
Andert, that crosses the river Furans, and ascended to the least
steep part of the hill of Darde, Peytel cried out to his servant,
who was seated in the car, to come down from it, and finish the
ascent on foot.
‘At this moment a violent wind was blowing from the south, and the
rain was falling heavily: Peytel was seated back in the right
corner of the carriage, and his wife, who was close to him, was
asleep, with her head on his left shoulder. All of a sudden he
heard the report of a firearm (he had seen the light of it at some
paces’ distance), and Madame Peytel cried out, ‘My poor husband,
take your pistols;’ the horse was frightened, and began to trot.
Peytel immediately drew a pistol, and fired, from the interior of
the carriage, upon an individual whom he saw running by the side of
the road.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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