The Refugees

The Refugees - A Tale of Two
Continents

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Title: The Refugees
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Release Date: March 2, 2004 [eBook #11413]
Language: English
Character set encoding: US-ASCII
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
REFUGEES***
THE REFUGEES
A TALE OF TWO CONTINENTS
A. CONAN DOYLE

CONTENTS.


PART I.
IN THE OLD WORLD.

Chapter
I. THE MAN FROM AMERICA.
II. A MONARCH IN DESHABILLE
III. THE HOLDING OF THE DOOR
IV. THE FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE
V. CHILDREN OF BELIAL
VI. A HOUSE OF STRIFE
VII. THE NEW WORLD AND THE OLD
VIII. THE RISING SUN
IX. LE ROI S'AMUSE
X. AN ECLIPSE AT VERSAILLES
XI. THE SUN REAPPEARS
XII. THE KING RECEIVES
XIII. THE KING HAS IDEAS
XIV. THE LAST CARD
XV. THE MIDNIGHT MISSION
XVI. "WHEN THE DEVIL DRIVES"
XVII. THE DUNGEON OF PORTILLAC
XVIII. A NIGHT OF SURPRISES

XIX. IN THE KING'S CABINET
XX. THE TWO FRANCOISES
XXI. THE MAN IN THE CALECHE
XXII. THE SCAFFOLD OF PORTILLAC
XXIII. THE FALL OF THE CATINATS


PART II.
IN THE NEW WORLD.


Chapter
XXIV. THE START OF THE "GOLDEN ROD"
XXV. A BOAT OF THE DEAD
XXVI. THE LAST PORT
XXVII. A DWINDLING ISLAND
XXVIII. IN THE POOL OF QUEBEC
XXIX. THE VOICE AT THE PORT-HOLE
XXX. THE INLAND WATERS
XXXI. THE HAIRLESS MAN

XXXII. THE LORD OF SAINTE MARIE
XXXIII. THE SLAYING OF BROWN MOOSE
XXXIV. THE MEN OF BLOOD
XXXV. THE TAPPING OF DEATH
XXXVI. THE TAKING OF THE STOCKADE
XXXVII. THE COMING OF THE FRIAR
XXXVIII. THE DINING-HALL OF SAINTE MARIE
XXXIX. THE TWO SWIMMERS
XL. THE END
NOTE ON THE HUEGENOTS AND THEIR DISPERSION
NOTE ON THE FUTURE OF LOUIS, MADAME DE MAINTENON,
AND MADAME DE MONTESPAN


CHAPTER I.
THE MAN FROM AMERICA.
It was the sort of window which was common in Paris about the end of
the seventeenth century. It was high, mullioned, with a broad transom
across the centre, and above the middle of the transom a tiny coat of
arms--three caltrops gules upon a field argent--let into the
diamond-paned glass. Outside there projected a stout iron rod, from
which hung a gilded miniature of a bale of wool which swung and
squeaked with every puff of wind. Beyond that again were the houses
of the other side, high, narrow, and prim, slashed with diagonal

wood-work in front, and topped with a bristle of sharp gables and
corner turrets. Between were the cobble-stones of the Rue St. Martin
and the clatter of innumerable feet.
Inside, the window was furnished with a broad bancal of brown
stamped Spanish leather, where the family might recline and have an
eye from behind the curtains on all that was going forward in the busy
world beneath them. Two of them sat there now, a man and a woman,
but their backs were turned to the spectacle, and their faces to the large
and richly furnished room. From time to time they stole a glance at
each other, and their eyes told that they needed no other sight to make
them happy.
Nor was it to be wondered at, for they were a well-favoured pair. She
was very young, twenty at the most, with a face which was pale, indeed,
and yet of a brilliant pallor, which was so clear and fresh, and carried
with it such a suggestion of purity and innocence, that one would not
wish its maiden grace to be marred by an intrusion of colour. Her
features were delicate and sweet, and her blue-black hair and long dark
eyelashes formed a piquant contrast to her dreamy gray eyes and her
ivory skin. In her whole expression there was something quiet and
subdued, which was accentuated by her simple dress of black taffeta,
and by the little jet brooch and bracelet which were her sole ornaments.
Such was Adele Catinat, the only daughter of the famous Huguenot
cloth-merchant.
But if her dress was sombre, it was atoned for by the magnificence of
her companion. He was a man who might have been ten years her
senior, with a keen soldier face, small well-marked features, a carefully
trimmed black moustache, and a dark hazel eye which might harden to
command a man, or soften to supplicate a woman, and be successful at
either. His coat was of sky-blue, slashed across with silver braidings,
and with broad silver shoulder-straps on either side. A vest of white
calamanca peeped out from beneath it, and knee-breeches of