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
‘Not knowing, as yet, that his wife had been hit, he jumped out on
one side of the carriage, while Madame Peytel descended from the
other; and he fired a second pistol at his domestic, Louis Rey,
whom he had just recognised. Redoubling his pace, he came up with
Rey, and struck him, from behind, a blow with the hammer. Rey
turned at this, and raised up his arm to strike his master with the
pistol which he had just discharged at him; but Peytel, more quick
than he, gave the domestic a blow with the hammer, which felled him
to the ground (he fell his face forwards), and then Peytel,
bestriding the body, despatched him, although the brigand asked for
mercy.
‘He now began to think of his wife; and ran back, calling out her
name repeatedly, and seeking for her, in vain, on both sides of the
road. Arrived at the bridge of Andert, he recognised his wife,
stretched in a field, covered with water, which bordered the
Furans. This horrible discovery had so much the more astonished
him, because he had no idea until now, that his wife had been
wounded: he endeavoured to draw her from the water; and it was only
after considerable exertions that he was enabled to do so, and to
place her, with her face towards the ground, on the side of the
road. Supposing that, here, she would be sheltered from any further
danger, and believing, as yet, that she was only wounded, he
determined to ask for help at a lone house, situated on the road
towards Rossillon; and at this instant he perceived, without at all
being able to explain how, that his horse had followed him back to
the spot, having turned back of its own accord, from the road to
Belley.
‘The house at which he knocked was inhabited by two men, of the
name Thannet, father and son, who opened the door to him, and whom
he entreated to come to his aid, saying that his wife had just been
assassinated by his servant. The elder Thannet approached to, and
examined the body, and told Peytel that it was quite dead; he and
his son took up the corpse, and placed it in the bottom of the
carriage, which they all mounted themselves, and pursued their
route to Belley. In order to do so, they had to pass by Rey’s body,
on the road, which Peytel wished to crush under the wheels of his
carriage. It was to rob him of 7500 francs, said Peytel, that the
attack had been made.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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