Ventre St. Gris.
Left alone, the duke, knowing he had at least an hour before him, drew out his ladder and carefully examined the fastenings.
“The ladder is good,” said he, at length, “and will not break.”
Then he unrolled it all, and counted thirty-eight rounds of fifteen inches each.
“The length is sufficient,” said he, “there is nothing to fear on that point. Ah! but if it were some of those cursed minions1 who sent me to the ladder? If I attach it to the balcony they will let me do it, and while I am descending2 they will cut the cords. But, no; they could not be foolish enough to think I would fly without barricading3 the door, and I should have time to fly before they could force it. But what person in the world, except my sister herself, could know of a ladder hidden in her dressing-room? What friend of mine can it be?”
Suddenly an idea struck him, and he cried, “Bussy!”
Indeed, Bussy, whom so many ladies adored, Bussy was a hero to the Queen of Navarre, and his only true friend — was it Bussy? Everything made him think so. The duke, of course, did not know all his motives4 for being angry with him, for he did not know his love for Diana, and believed him to be too noble to think of resentment5 when his master was a prisoner. He approached the window again, and fancied he could see in the fog the indistinct forms of three horses and two men by the river. Two men. These must be Bussy and Rémy. He then looked through the keyhole, and saw his four guardians6; two were asleep, and two had inherited Chicot’s chessboard and were playing. He extinguished his light.
Then he opened his window, and looked over the balcony; the gulf7 below him looked dreadful in the darkness, and he drew back. But air and liberty have an attraction so irresistible8 to a prisoner, that Fran?ois, on withdrawing from the window, felt as if he were being stifled9, and for an instant something like disgust of life and indifference10 to death passed through his mind. He fancied he was growing courageous11, and, profiting by this moment of excitement, he seized the ladder, fixed12 it to the balcony, then barricaded13 the door as well as he could, and returned to the window. The darkness was now great, and the first growlings of the storm began to make themselves heard; a great cloud with silver fringes extended itself like a recumbent elephant from one side to the other of the river. A flash of lightning broke the immense cloud for a moment, and the prince fancied that he saw below him in the fosse the same figures he had imagined before. A horse neighed; there was no more doubt — he was waited for.
He shook the ladder to see if it was firm, then he put his leg over the balustrade and placed his foot on the first step. Nothing can describe the anguish14 of the prisoner at this moment, placed between a frail15 silk cord on the one hand and his brother’s cruel menaces on the other. But as he stood there he felt the ladder stiffened16; some one held it. Was it a friend or an enemy? Were they open arms or armed ones which waited for him? An irresistible terror seized him; he still held the balcony with his left hand, and made a movement to remount, when a very slight pull at the ladder came to him like a solicitation17. He took courage, and tried the second step. The ladder was held as firm as a rock, and he found a steady support for his foot. He descended18 rapidly, almost gliding19 down, when all at once, instead of touching20 the earth, which he knew to be near, he felt himself seized in the arms of a man who whispered, “You are saved.” Then he was carried along the fosse till they came to the end, when another man seized him by the collar and drew him up, and after having aided his companion in the same way, they ran to the river, where stood the horses. The prince knew he was at, the mercy of his saviours21, so he jumped at once on a horse, and his companions did the same. The same voice now said, “Quick!” And they set off at a gallop22.
“All goes well at present,” thought the prince, “let us hope it will end so. Thanks, my brave Bussy,” said he to his companion on the right, who was entirely23 covered with a large cloak.
“Quick!” replied the other.
They arrived thus at the great ditch of the Bastile, which they crossed on a bridge improvised24 by the Leaguers the night before. The three cavaliers rode towards Charenton, when all at once the man on the right entered the forest of Vincennes, saying only, “Come.” The prince’s horse neighed, and several others answered from the depths of the forest. Fran?ois would have stopped if he could, for he feared they were taking him to an ambush25, but it was too late, and in a few minutes he found himself in a small open space, where eight or ten men on horseback were drawn26 up.
“Oh! oh!” said the prince, “what does this mean, monsieur?”
“Ventre St. Gris! it means that we are saved.”
“You! Henri!” cried the duke, stupefied, “you! my liberator27?”
“Does that astonish you? Are we not related, Agrippa?” continued he, looking round for his companion.
“Here I am,” said D’Aubigné.
“Are there two fresh horses, with which we can go a dozen leagues without stopping?”
“But where are you taking me, my cousin?”
“Where you like, only be quick, for the King of France has more horses than I have, and is rich enough to kill a dozen if he wishes to catch us.”
“Really, then, I am free to go where I like?”
“Certainly, I wait your orders.”
“Well, then, to Angers.”
“To Angers; so be it, there you are at home.”
“But you?”
“I! when we are in sight of Angers I shall leave you, and ride on to Navarre, where my good Margot expects me, and must be much ennuyée at my absence.”
“But no one knew you were here?”
“I came to sell three diamonds of my wife’s.”
“Ah! very well.”
“And also to know if this League was really going to ruin me.”
“You see there is nothing in it.”
“Thanks to you, no.”
“How! thanks to me?”
“Certainly. If, instead of refusing to be chief of the League, when you knew it was directed against me, you had accepted, I was ruined. Therefore, when I heard that the king had punished your refusal with imprisonment28, I swore to release you, and I have done so.”
“Always so simple-minded,” thought Fran?ois, “really, it is easy to deceive him.”
“Now for Anjou,” thought the king. “Ah! M. de Guise29, I send you a companion you do not want.”
收听单词发音 |
1
minions
|
|
| n.奴颜婢膝的仆从( minion的名词复数 )；走狗；宠儿；受人崇拜者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
descending
|
|
| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
barricading
|
|
| 设路障于，以障碍物阻塞( barricade的现在分词 )； 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
motives
|
|
| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
resentment
|
|
| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
guardians
|
|
| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
gulf
|
|
| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
irresistible
|
|
| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
stifled
|
|
| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
courageous
|
|
| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
barricaded
|
|
| 设路障于，以障碍物阻塞( barricade的过去式和过去分词 )； 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
anguish
|
|
| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
frail
|
|
| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
stiffened
|
|
| 加强的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
solicitation
|
|
| n.诱惑；揽货；恳切地要求；游说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
gliding
|
|
| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
touching
|
|
| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
saviours
|
|
| n.救助者( saviour的名词复数 )；救星；救世主；耶稣基督 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
gallop
|
|
| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
improvised
|
|
| a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
ambush
|
|
| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
liberator
|
|
| 解放者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
imprisonment
|
|
| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
guise
|
|
| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |