Belle-Rose — page 216: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

—— a? _” «a e af - * 4 . a Y ~~ ¢ - WHAT WOMAN WISHES, GOD WISHES. 205 ‘*Saved?’’ said she. Suzanne shook her head. Genevieve let fall her arms. ‘What! madame, the king himself——’’ “The king is the king,’’ said Suzanne, with a poignant expression, “‘he is egotism crowned. He has made a buck- ler of reasons of state. [I have wept on my knees, and here I am.”’ : ‘*Lost! my God! lost!’’ exclaimed Genevieve. “Not yet; so long as I live I hope.”’ Genevieve, astonished at this firm and resolute language, looked at Suzanne. ‘Oh!’ continued the young widow, ‘‘I am no longer the woman you saw at Compiégne. I can love him without fear now, and risk everything to save him. I will stake my fortune and my life to do so.’ “You do not know Monsieur de Louvois!’’ said Matéme - de Chateaufort, gnawed by despair. “T know what an honest and determined heart can do. He hates him, I love him; we shall see,’’ Genevieve stified a sich. “Try, madame; I will do all that I can to aid you.’ Suzanne having asked her what had transpired since the day of imprisonment, (;enevieve related to her all that she knew and all that she had attempted. At the recital of the tortures inflicted on Belle-Rose, Suzanne shivered. ‘“‘Louis XIV. is King of France, and this is what he per- mits?’’ she exclaimed, with horror. They were still together when a lackey came to warn the duchess that a man was at the door, insisting on being introduced into her presence. ‘‘Who is this man?’’ said she. ‘*He says his name is Déroute,’’ replied the lackey. ‘‘T.et him enter at once,’’ said Suzanne. ‘What do you know and what do you want?’’ said Madame de Chateaufort, when Déroute had been intro- duced. ‘‘T know that my lieutenant is in prison, and I wish him free,’’ replied the honest sergeant. “Well, ””? said Suzanne, ‘‘it is necessary to aid him to es- cape.’ “From the Bastile? Eh! madame, it would be as easy to draw one of the damned from the claws of the devil! - There are sentinels at every door, doors in all the passages, and turnkeys everywhere. The walls are one hundred and twenty feet high, the ditches twenty feet deep, and I Gomilcbooks:.co