The Secret Tomb Maurice Leblanc (best love story novels in english .TXT) đ
- Author: Maurice Leblanc
Book online «The Secret Tomb Maurice Leblanc (best love story novels in english .TXT) đ». Author Maurice Leblanc
He leant more and more heavily on the young girlâs shoulders, and said to her with sarcastic joy:
âYour eyes are troubled, Dorothy! What a pleasure to see that! There is fear in your eyesâ âfear.â ââ ⊠How beautiful they are, Dorothy! This is indeed the reward of victoryâ âjust a look like that, which is full of fearâ âfear of me. That is worth more than anything. Dorothy, Dorothy, I love you.â ââ ⊠Forget you? What folly! If I wish to kiss your lips, it is that I may love you even moreâ ââ ⊠and that you may love meâ ââ ⊠that you may follow me like a slave and like the mistress of my heart.â
She touched the wall. The man tried to draw her to him. She made an effort to free herself.
âAh!â he cried in a sudden fury, mauling her. âNo resistance, my dear. Give me your lips, at once, do you hear! If not, itâs Montfaucon whoâll pay. Do you want me to swing him round again as I did just now? Come, obey, or Iâll certainly cut across to his cell; and so much the worse for the bratâs head!â
Dorothy was at the end of her forces. Her legs were bending. All her being shuddered with horror at this contact with the ruffian; and at the same time she trembled to repulse him, so great was her fear lest he should at once fling himself on the child.
Her stiff arms began to bend. The man redoubled his efforts to force her to her knees. It was all over. He was nearly at his goal. But at that moment the most unexpected sight caught her eye. Behind him, a few feet away, something was moving, something which passed through the opposite wall. It was the barrel of a rifle leveled at him through the loophole slit.
On the instant she remembered that Saint-Quentin had carried away from the inn an old and useless rifle without cartridges!
She did not make a sign which could draw dâEstreicherâs attention to it. She understood Saint-Quentinâs maneuver. The boy threatened, but he could only threaten. It was for her to contrive the method by which that menace should as soon as dâEstreicher saw it directed against him, have its full effect. It was certain that dâEstreicher would only need a moment to perceive, as Dorothy herself perceived, the rust and the deplorable condition of the weapon, as harmless as a childâs gun.
Quite clearly Dorothy perceived what she had to: to pull herself together, to face the enemy boldly, and to confuse him, were it only for a few seconds, as she had already succeeded in upsetting him by her coolness and self-control. Her safety, the safety of Montfaucon depended on her firmness. In robore fortuna, she thought.
But that thought she unconsciously uttered in a low voice, as one utters a prayer for protection. And at once she felt her adversaryâs grip relax. The old motto, on which he had so often reflected, uttered so quietly, at such a moment, by this woman whom he believed to be at bay, disconcerted him. He looked at her closely and was astounded. Never had her beautiful face worn such a serene air. Over the white teeth the lips opened, and the eyes, a moment ago terrified and despairing, now regarded him with the quietest smile.
âWhat on earth is it?â he cried, beside himself, as he recalled her astounding laughter near the pool at Hillocks Manor. âAre you going to laugh again today?â
âIâm laughing for the same reason: you are lost.â
He tried to take it as a joke:
âHang it! How?â
âYes,â she declared. âI told you so from the first moment; and I was right.â
âYouâre mad,â he said, shrugging his shoulders.
She noticed that he had grown more respectful, and sure of a victory which rested in her extraordinary coolness and in the absolute similarity of the two scenes, she repeated:
âYou are lost. The situation really is the same as at the Manor. There Raoul and the children had gone to seek for help; and of a sudden, when you were the master, the barrel of a gun was leveled at you. Here, it is the same. The three urchins have found men. They are there, as at the Manor with their guns.â ââ ⊠You remember? They are here. The barrels of the guns are leveled at you.â
âYou l-l-lie!â stammered the ruffian.
âThey are there,â she declared in a yet more impressive tone. âIâve heard my boysâ signal. They havenât wasted time coming round the tower. They are on the other side of that wall.â
âYou lie!â he cried. âWhat you say is impossible!â
She said, always with the coolness of a person no longer menaced by peril, and with an imperious contempt:
âTurn round!â ââ ⊠Youâll see their guns leveled at your breast. At a word from me they fire! Turn round then!â
He shrunk back. He did not wish to obey. But Dorothyâs eyes, blazing, irresistible, stronger than he, compelled him; and yielding to their compulsion, he turned round.
It was the last quarter of the last minute.
With all the force of her being, with a strength of conviction which did not permit the ruffian to think, she commanded:
âHands up, you blackguard! Or theyâll shoot you like a dog! Hands up! Shoot there! Show no mercy! Shoot! Hands up!â
DâEstreicher saw the rifle. He raised his hands.
Dorothy sprang on him and in a second tore a revolver from his jacket pocket, and aiming at his head, without her heart quickening a beat and with a perfectly steady hand, she said slowly, her eyes gleaming maliciously:
âIdiot! I told you plainly you were lost.â
XVII The Secret PerishesThe scene had not lasted a minute; and in less than a minute the readjustment had taken place. Defeat was changed to victory.
A precarious victory. Dorothy knew that a man like dâEstreicher would not long remain the dupe of
Comments (0)