THE LAST OF THE "TATTER OF SCARLET"
Rhoda Polly was on her way to see her friend Alida, and knowing well
that parental permission would be refused her in the troublous state of
the neighbourhood, she had taken it and followed unobtrusively in the
wake of Jack Jaikes and his party.
I had trouble even now to get her away from the scene of the execution.
She would have sat down on the very spot, save that I hastened her
departure, saying that I must go back and see her father. I had, I said,
both news and a message for him.
So we walked through the woods to Gobelet, very quietly and without much
talk between us. We reached there to find that Dennis Deventer had just
arrived from the Chateau, that Chardon had disappeared, and that Hugh
was in the full flush of his morning's triumph. His father nodded
approval. As for Alida she clung to his arm and looked up in his face. I
do not think she was conscious of my presence in the room, and even upon
Rhoda Polly she only bestowed a left-handed greeting without letting go
her hold upon Hugh Deventer. Verily the manners of the East are strange.
I knew very well that she would find her hero one day, but I never
supposed he would come to her in my poor Hugh's likeness.
I felt a sudden leap of loneliness in my heart and moved nearer to Rhoda
Polly. _She_ would never look at me like that. But instead she stood on
tiptoe till her lips were near my ear and whispered, "I have always
known it would be so--don't they look silly?"
It was a point of view, though at that moment hardly mine, but who was I
that I should grudge Hugh Deventer his one hour of triumph? He was
telling his story.
"I heard them all about us, and I knew they were getting ready for the
rush. There were about forty of us, professors, _pions_, and seniors, to
whom rifles could be served. I tell you I had a time finding out who
could shoot even a bit. I had to try each with a dummy gun to see how he
handled it. They lied so--yes, even the professors!
"But your old Renard was a brick. He spotted the sportsmen as if by
magic and remembered the boys whose fathers had shootings. He helped a
lot, I can tell you--and tucked up his black gown and hopped about on
his thin legs (which were black too) as lively as a cricket.
"Brown was attending to the electric lamp and barbed-wire obstacles
while I was doing the drill sergeant, and by ten we had the business in
pretty fair shape. I set the posts as you told me, sir, or as near as
possible. For, of course, having been a pupil, the old place was like my
bedroom to me, and I knew just where they would try to rush us."
His father nodded, and the smile which accompanied the nod encouraged
the hero to continue. Not that this was necessary, for at his elbow
Alida was behaving most foolishly.
("_You_ never looked at me like that, Rhoda Polly," I whispered, "the
night when we blew them back from the Big Gate, when Jack Jaikes and I
fought in the open."
"Hadn't time," retorted Rhoda Polly, "besides, I was in that business as
well as you. Did you think that I had been left behind in the Chateau
cellar?")
"Just when twelve struck," Hugh proceeded, "they dashed into the ditch
with a yell--just at the places you said, father, when I showed you the
plan I had made. But the wire and stakes brought them all up standing.
My black regiment fired all round the wall. I don't believe they hit
many, but the crackle of the rifle fire was a very disconcerting
circumstance, and at any rate Brown and I 'scourged' them well with your
repeaters, sir. Brown had switched on his big search-light and
everything was as bright as glory.
"'How many were there?' That I could not say, sir. They looked a lot
when they clumped together, which was not often. But the line was
thin-sown when they spread out to take cover. The professors swore to a
hundred, but I could not really make it more than fifty.
"They let fly at us, but we were all behind the big stone wall. The
bullets whizzed over us, and spotted the walls, but that was all. Then
they drew off to hold a council.
"Once they nearly got us. They had dynamite or some infernal stuff, and
they blew up the outer main gate. But then, as you know, that did not
much matter, for the really strong one is twenty yards farther on, and
those who ran in found themselves up Blind Alley. I tell you, sir, Brown
and I sacrificed them before they got out. But they kept it up, firing
at us till dawn without ever making a hit. They saw the uselessness of
this at last, and were just hopping off over the plateau on the road to
Spain, when the red breeches put in an appearance, and nabbed the
lot--that is very nearly all, for some got away by the woods.
"'After that?'--Well, sir. I shall tell you the rest to-night. I came
down here to see how Mr. Cawdor was getting on."
Hugh Deventer had so clearly the floor that I did not attempt to
interfere. Nor did I grudge him his glory. Had we not, Jack Jaikes,
Rhoda Polly, and I, seen a greater thing--the fight over Allerdyce's gun
before the main entrance?
"Come out on the terrace, Rhoda Polly," I said, for I really had had
enough of Hugh's strutting and Alida's languorous glances. We passed
through the tall window out upon the lawn, and went slowly to the
crescent sweep of the promenade, which made so beautiful a look-out
station over the river.
The morning smoke was rising over Aramon-les-Ateliers. Within the
factory some of the tall chimneys were already sending forth long trails
of vapour. Dennis Deventer's gangs were preparing for a return to normal
conditions.
The secret negotiations had been going on some time. The men were
wearying to get back. The tyranny of the Black Band was wholly
dissipated, and honest folks breathed freely. The women were more
anxious than the men. For if the city should be occupied by troops--if
military tribunals were set up, where would their husbands be so safe as
in the factory? Dennis Deventer had the long arm. Dennis Deventer could
protect his own.
I looked at Rhoda Polly, and she smiled.
"I suppose there is really nothing to say," I said, answering her
glance. "This is not proper love-making, but we simply can't do without
one another, can we, Rhoda Polly? So it has just got to be."
"I suppose so," said Rhoda Polly, looking far out across the flat lands
to the blue line of the Mediterranean. "But what are you going to do all
day--and I? We are busy people, Angus Cawdor, and in idleness we should
soon quarrel!"
She swung her legs engagingly, awaiting my answer.
"Well," I said, "I will let you into a secret. My father's next book, 'A
History of the Third Republic,' is to have both our names on the
title-page. Also I am to translate all his books into French. You have
got to help."
"I shall love it," cried Rhoda Polly, "but what else am I to do?"
"You will have this house of Gobelet to be sole mistress of, and,
besides, you and your mother must superintend the housekeeping of Linn
and Keller Bey in the Garden Cottage!"
"But, Angus, have you thought of Jeanne?"
"What Jeanne?"
"Jeanne Felix, sir!"
I was so stunned I could not answer, so great was my astonishment. Rhoda
Polly had not been so blind as I had supposed--or was it possible that
Jeanne herself----? No, I thanked Heaven that at least need not be
thought of.
Rhoda Polly laughed a ringing, joyous laugh, and gave my arm a little
playful clutch.
"Silly," she said, "I will put you out of any remorse you may feel for
any of your misdeeds. Jeanne is to be married to young Emile Bert, the
fruit-grower of Les Cabannes. She is at last going to reward his
constancy--as I am yours!"
She looked at me with gay, ironic eyes. The vixen!
I did not answer. It was indeed a difficult corner to turn with plain
lying, but most happily at that moment we saw a strange and memorable
thing.
Across the river, from the fort which dominated the town, and also from
the high tower of the Mairie, we saw the red flag of revolt flutter
down, and simultaneously, like a burst of sunlight, the tricolour was
broken out at each mast-head, gay and hopeful in that entrancing
Provencal air.
Instinctively Rhoda Polly's hand sought mine. We both stood silent and
bareheaded as in the presence of the dead, for both of us knew that we
had looked our last upon the "Tatter of Scarlet."
THE END
WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD. PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH
_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_
PRINCESS PENNILESS
Crown 8vo, net, 2_s._ Popular Edition, 6_d._
THE DEW OF THEIR YOUTH
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._ Popular Edition, 6_d._
ROSE OF THE WILDERNESS
Cloth, net, 2_s._ Popular Edition, 6_d._
THE CHERRY RIBBAND
New Cloth Edition, net, 1_s._
LADS' LOVE
Popular Edition, 6_d._
DEEP MOAT GRANGE
Popular Edition, 6_d._
LOVE IN PERNICKETTY TOWN
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._ Popular Edition, 6_d._
THE SMUGGLERS
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._ Cloth, net, 7_d._
ANNE OF THE BARRICADES
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
THE MOSS TROOPERS
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
SWEETHEARTS AT HOME
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
LONDON: HODDER & STOUGHTON
Transcriber's Notes:
Dialect was not altered. Alternate and obsolete spellings in English
were retained; French words with circonflex or that lack an accent aigu
were not altered. Remaining punctuation was standardized. The list of
books by the same author was moved from the beginning to the end of the
book. One footnote is indented and follows the paragraph in which the
anchor occurs.
Other alterations:
changed "remoneur" to "ramoneur"
... the woodman, the _ramoneur_ or sweep,...
changed "Guguss" to "Gugusse"
... garlic-smelling 'Gugusse' who ...
changed "as" to "at"
... just at that moment ...
changed "Prefeture" to "Prefecture"
... of the Sous-Prefecture....
added a space between "after a"
... putting a boat to rights after a night's fishing ...
changed "beng" to "being"
... roof being long perfected ...
changed "wil" to "will"
... the beasts will slink back to their lairs ...
removed hyphen from 'fairy-tale'
... at the bottom of this fairy tale....
changed "Espivnet" to "Espivent"
... troops of General Espivent ...