The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

Author:Baroness Orczy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel
ISBN: 9780755126460
Publisher: House of Stratus
Published: 2013-01-17T00:00:00+00:00

4

An hour later two men were speeding down the Chemin de la Digue which leads to the seashore. When they had reached the edge of the cliffs they turned sharply to the left toward the village of Maljovins.

“It is infernally dark,” one of the men said impatiently. “Are you sure of the way?”

“Quite sure, Citizen,” the other replied; “that sombre mass of building over there is the château.”

“And you have provided for everything?”

“For everything, Citizen, and I know that you will be satisfied. Our men succeeded in capturing Fernand Malzieu in the courtyard of the château when he arrived there on Saturday: he has been under lock and key in one of the tower rooms ever since. His cousin Désiré returned from Paris this morning. My man is already there, ready to act if he has not done so already, and the old woman, Julie Navet, has agreed to my terms for giving the evidence which I require. In less than an hour we can have Fernand Malzieu under arrest for the peculiarly brutal murder of his aged cousin, and there will be two eyewitnesses to the crime. Directly afterwards, we will publish the will of Désiré Malzieu, which I have prepared and which I have already shown to Fernand. This will provide us with the motive for the murder and will render the assassin doubly odious to his former worshippers. No!” Desor concluded, with absolute complacence, “we have left nothing to chance, and the Committee of Public Safety will, I hope, give me due recognition for my work.”

To this broad hint Chauvelin gave no direct reply, and after a moment’s silence he asked abruptly: “You are sure of your man, I imagine?”

“I could not have found a better,” Desor replied. “Orgelet is a man who ought to have been guillotined ages ago, he has half a dozen crimes on his conscience and today would murder his own mother for a few francs. I have him in the hollow of my hand, as I hold proofs of certain forgeries and trafficking with our enemies which would send him to the guillotine to-morrow. He knows that, and knows, too, that if he ever played me false or betrayed us in any way, I would use those proofs without hesitation. He has a kind of rough intelligence, too, and will act his part rightly, you may be sure.”

“And the woman – what is her name?”

“Julie Navet? Oh, with her, greed is master of all her actions. The way I have worded the will of Désiré Malzieu she becomes sole beneficiary under it, if Fernand does not comply with the conditions. And he cannot do that if we send him to the guillotine for murder.”

“The signature to the will? Is that in order?”

“Quite in order, Citizen: and there are the signatures of the two witnesses. Indeed, indeed,” the notary concluded emphatically, “you need have no fear on that score either. It is not the first time,” he went on cynically, “that I have had to concoct a document of that sort, and I am not likely to bungle this one.

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