The Trampling of the Lilies | Page 3

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The Trampling of the Lilies
by Rafael Sabatini

CONTENTS


PART I
THE OLD RULE

CHAPTER
I.
MONSIEUR THE SECRETARY
II. LORDS OF LIFE AND DEATH
III. THE WORD OF BELLECOUR
IV. THE DISCIPLES OF ROUSSEAU


PART II
THE NEW RULE
V. THE SHEEP TURNED WOLVES
VI. THE CITIZEN COMMISSIONER
VII. LA BOULAYE DISCHARGES A DEBT
VIII. THE INVALIDS AT BOISVERT
IX. THE CAPTIVES
X. THE BAISER LAMOURETTE
XI. THE ESCAPE
XII. THE AWAKENING
XIII. THE ROAD TO LIEGE
XIV. THE COURIER
XV. LA BOULAYE BAITS HIS HOOK


PART III
THE EVERLASTING RULE
XVI. CECILE DESHAIX
XVII. LA BOULAYE'S PROMISE
XVIII. THE INCORRUPTIBLE
XIX. THE THEFT
XX. THE GRATITUDE OF OMBREVAL
XXI. THE ARREST
XXII. THE TRIBUNAL
XXIII. THE CONCIERGERIE


PART I
THE OLD RULE
These are they Who ride on the court gale, control its tides;
***
Whose frown abases and whose smile exalts. They shine like any rainbow - and, perchance, Their colours are as transient.
Old Play
CHAPTER I
MONSIEUR THE SECRETARY
It was spring at Bellecour - the spring of 1789, a short three months before the fall of the Bastille came to give the nobles pause, and make them realise that these new philosophies, which so long they have derided, were by no means the idle vapours they had deemed them.
By the brook, plashing its glittering course through the park of Bellecour, wandered La Boulaye, his long, lean, figure clad with a sombreness that was out of harmony in that sunlit, vernal landscape. But the sad-hued coat belied that morning a heart that sang within his breast as joyously as any linnet of the woods through which he strayed. That he was garbed in black was but the outward indication of his clerkly office, for he was secretary to the most noble the Marquis de Fresnoy de Bellecour, and so clothed in the livery of the ink by which he lived. His face was pale and lean and thoughtful, but within his great, intelligent eyes there shone a light of new-born happiness. Under his arm he carried a volume of the new philosophies which Rousseau had lately given to the world, and which was contributing so vastly to the mighty change that was impending. But within his soul there dwelt in that hour no such musty subject as the metaphysical dreams of old Rousseau. His mood inclined little to the "Discourses upon the Origin of Inequality" which his elbow hugged to his side. Rather was it a mood of song and joy and things of light, and his mind was running on a string of rhymes which mentally he offered up to his divinity. A high-born lady was she, daughter to his lordly employer, the most noble Marquis of Bellecour. And he a secretary, a clerk! Aye, but a clerk with a great soul, a secretary with a great belief in the things to come, which in that musty tome beneath his arm were dimly prophesied.
And as he roamed beside the brook, his feet treading the elastic, velvety turf, and crushing heedlessly late primrose and stray violet, his blood quickened by