Belle Rose: A Romance of the Cloak and Sword — page 282: what you’re looking at

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

266 A PONIARD THRUST. ‘That is true,’’ said Ambrose, and he gave Déroute the letter. The king’s edict, Catherine, the gold louis danced all night in Ambrose’s dreams. At daybreak Déroute awoke him. They embraced like old friends, and one took his way to the Rue du Cherche-Midi, while the other went in the direction of Beaugency. The attendant of the convent called Father Jerome as soon as Déroute had stated the motive of his visit. ‘*‘What do you want with me?’’ asked the gardener, on entering the parlor. ‘‘My uncle, it is your nephew who comes to be a gar- dener,’’ replied Déroute, with a simple air. CHAPTER Xt. A PONIARD THRUST. Jereme embraced his nephew, in whom he recognized at once a family air. Déroute did not wink, and the gardener forthwith installed him in his lodging. From the first day, Déroute set out to gain the confidence of Castor and Pollux; he succeeded therein by an abundant distribution of dainties, with which he had provided himself. Jerome, who noticed it, was astonished at such a great friendship for animals. 3 While caressing the dogs, who gamboled around him, Déroute took possession of his new domain; he went over the entire place in order to familiarize himself with its topography. Father Jerome accompanied him in his visit, and mixed dissertations upon the art of gardening with commentaries upon the Patus of Beaugency. Déroute had a reply for everything, and made with an imperturbable tranquillity the biography of thirty persons whom he did not know, aiding himself, without seeming to do so, with the recollections of Jerome. ‘Toward evening Déroute knew the garden of the convent as wellas if he had in- habited it all his life. Just as they were about to return, Jerome nudged him with his elbow. ‘*Hey! my nephew,”’ he said to him, ‘*look at the end of that hedge, and you will see some one who always has something shining to leave between my fingers.’’ ‘‘Stay, I wish to see her closer,’’ replied Déroute, and he walked toward her. EComichbooks.com