The Deans Watch | Page 9

verified. Keep him in sight, Madoc, and take your
measures accordingly." The bailiff descended the stairs thoughtfully,
and, refolding his papers, he said, without continuing the examination:
"Let the accused be taken back to the prison!" And with a scornful
glance at the landlady, he departed, followed by the secretary. Madoc
alone remained with two officials.
"Madame," he said to Dame Grédel, "maintain the strictest secrecy
about what has happened, and give this brave young man the same
room he occupied night before last." Madoc's look and emphasis
admitted of no reply. Dame Grédel swore she would do whatever was
required of her if she could only be rid of the robbers! Madoc replied:
"We shall stay here all day and to-night to protect you. Go about your
work in peace, and begin by giving us some breakfast. My good fellow,
you will give us the pleasure of dining with us?" My situation did not
permit me to decline. I accepted accordingly, and we soon found
ourselves seated before a leg of ham and a jug of Rhine wine. Other
people arrived from time to time, and endeavored to elicit the
confidence of Dame Grédel and Annette, but they maintained a discreet
silence, for which they deserve no little credit. We spent the afternoon
smoking our pipes and emptying our mugs; no one paid any attention to
us.
The chief of police, in spite of his sallow face, piercing glance, pale lips,
and sharp nose, was excellent company after a bottle or two; he told us
some excellent stories, and at every word of his the other two burst out
laughing. I remained gloomy and silent. "Come, young fellow!" he said
with a smile, "forget for a little the death of your respectable
grandmother. Take a drop, and put your troublesome thoughts to
flight."
Others joined in the conversation, and the time passed in the midst of

tobacco smoke, the clinking of glasses, and the ringing of mugs. But at
nine o'clock, after the watchman's visit, the expression of things
changed. Madoc rose and said: "Well, my friends, let us proceed to
business. Fasten the doors and shutters quietly! You, ladies, may go to
bed!" His two tattered followers looked more like robbers themselves
than like props of law and order. Each drew a club with a knob of lead
attached to one end, from his trousers' leg, and Madoc tapped his breast
pocket to make sure that his pistol was there. This done, he bid me lead
them to the loft. We climbed the stairs. Having reached the little room,
where thoughtful little Annette had taken care to light a fire, Madoc,
cursing between his teeth, hastened to throw water on the coals; then
motioning to the pile of straw, he said to me: "You may go to sleep if
you like."
He sat down, together with his two acolytes, at the end of the room
close to the wall, and they put out the light. I lay down on the straw,
breathing a prayer to the Almighty to send hither the assassin. After
midnight the silence became so profound that you would never have
suspected three men were there with wide-open eyes, on the alert for
the slightest sound. The hours wore slowly away. I could not sleep. A
thousand terrible ideas teemed in my brain. One o'clock--two
o'clock--three o'clock struck, and nothing appeared. At three o'clock
one of the officials stirred slightly. I thought the man had come at last.
But again all was still. I began to think that Madoc would take me for
an impostor, and that in the morning things would fare badly with me;
thus, instead of helping my companions, I should only be fettered with
them.
The time seemed to me to pass very rapidly after three o'clock. I wished
the night might last forever, that the only ray of hope might not be gone.
I was starting to go over all these thoughts for the fiftieth time, when,
suddenly, without my having heard a sound, the window opened and
two eyes glistened in the opening. Nothing stirred in the loft. "The
others are asleep," I thought. The head remained in the opening,
listening. The wretch seemed to suspect something. My heart galloped
and the blood coursed through my veins. I dared not even breathe. A
few moments passed thus. Then, suddenly, the man seemed to make up

his mind. He let himself down into the loft with the same caution as on
the preceding night. On the instant a terrible cry, short, piercing,
blood-curdling, resounded through the house. "We've got him!"
The whole house shook from cellar to attic; cries, struggles, and hoarse
shouts, coupled with muttered oaths, filled the loft. The man roared like,
a wild beast, and his opponents breathed painfully