Jane Feather - Charade Unknown (great books to read .TXT) 📖

would join them, as he surely would, they could bringthe Black Gull from Dover and start operating on a much larger scale.

Julian and Philip returned some two hours later, exulting in theirsuccess. They had paid a delighted farmer, who had no intention ofquestioning his good fortune, for two carts and their contents. The

fanner was saved a day's work selling in the city and had been paidmore than liberally for his potatoes, turnips, cabbages, and lettuce.

At dawn they passed through the St. Antoine gate in the company of ahundred others, dressed as they were, driving a longprocession of similar' carts, and they received but a cursory glancefrom the guards.

Danielle had the reins of the leading cart and drove with unerringmemory to Les Halles where once she had scrabbled beneath the stallsand carts for discarded fruit and vegetables, had begged for bread fromamenable matrons, and held horses for a sou. They all knew what theywere to do and spoke little as

they placed the carts. Westmore andPhilip prepared to sell their wares as Jules and Tony went off to

findSt. Estephe.

Danielle vanished into the crowd, an urchin no different from thethousands of others roaming the streets, to begin her search of theprisons. She had little hope of success, but the effort had to be made.She tried La Force and the Conciergerie. It was easy enough to gainadmittance since little attempt was made during the daylight hours tosegregate the prisoners from each other or from their friends outside.The prison guard was undermanned and should have been increased as theprisons filled under the vigilant activities of the

comite desurveillance

, but nothing had as yet been done and it took thepeopleof Paris to deal with the situation. They chose murderas their means—by killing the prisoners they restored the ratio of guards to theirwards. However, it was still only July and that massacre was not totake place until the beginning of September.

When neither prison yielded a spark, Danielle tried the Abbaye in thehope that the chevalier would have been accorded the minimal courtesiesdue to an aristocratic prisoner. By the time she gave up there, it wasthree in the afternoon and she had to return to Les Halles. The five ofthem had established an absolute rule of timing. If one member of thegroup failed to return fifteen minutes after the appointed time thenthe others would continue with the plan on the assumption that thatmember had been taken by the

securite

.In such an event, it was to beevery man for himself, but Danielle strongly suspected that if she didnot appear on time her friends would turn the city upside down to findher. In that case, they would probably all find themselves in La Forceor the Conciergerie, or even Chatelet, whose very name sent

shivers down the back of the most hardened criminal. Accordingly, shemade her way back to find them all waiting for her, together with St.Estephe who at first did not recognize the Countess of Linton in theslight, grubby figure who appeared seemingly out of nowhere at hisside. Her language was not that of a de St. Varennes either and helistened in amazement to the explicit argot, conscious that hisattempts to respond in kind were but a poor imitation.

"We lodge tonight with the family of the Comte de St. Vire," Jules toldher swiftly. "He will not leave here himself but wishes to send hiswife and children to safety. While we are gone, he will organize othersto come with us on the next journey and spread the word. Those who canwill make their own way- to the coast in our absence, and when

DreamGirl

brings us back, Jake can take them to Cornwall and thenreturn forus. He can make the double journey in ten days during the summermonths."

"D'accord."

Danielle nodded."You have accomplished much in a fewhours, Jules. I, on the other hand, have accomplished nothing." Sheturned sadly to St. Estephe. "You have no way of knowing where thechevalier is held,

comte

?"

"None at all." He shook his head. "I have tried for two months, Danny.I will continue my search in your absence and will hope to have himsafe and able to accompany you on your return." The promise would bringher back, of that he was sure. He would allow her to make this journey,to set up the means of escape, and he would listen to de St. Vire, findout who else was ready to abandon their native land, and with a grandcoup snare them all and take the little de St. Varennes for hisplaything.

"If we remain in Paris tonight," Danny said slowly, "we shall not beable to leave until tomorrow sundown. Why do we not take the de St.Vire family out now? It will allow us an extra day to make the journeyto the coast, and St. Estephe and de St. Vire can do as well if notbetter what little we could accomplish tomorrow. It is simply a matterof passing the word and making preparations."

"I own I'll rest easier once I'm out of this city," Jules declared."There is an element of hysteria in the streets that has meas jumpy as a cat with its paws in the fire. The sansculottes areeverywhere, massed on street corners, parading the alleys, and I do notthink they are any friendlier toward farmers than they are toward thearistos."

"No," Danielle concurred. "I have met no hostility, but then I amdressed as one of them. I think, on our next visit, it would be wisefor you all to do the same."

"Lud!" Westmore sighed in resignation as he examined her appearanceanew. She had contrived to collect a considerable amount of dirt in herjourney through the city and wore her shirt hanging outside her raggedbritches and her cap at a jaunty angle pulled low over her face. "Whata repulsive thought." He sighed again. "But I daresay we must try."

"For now, we must make all speed," Danny said briskly. "The market isclosing and if we are