The H. Bedford-Jones Pulp Fiction Megapack: 20 Classic Tales by the King of the Pulps by H. Bedford-Jones

Author:H. Bedford-Jones [Bedford-Jones, H.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: three musketeers, short stories, adventure, historical, pulp fiction
ISBN: 9781434442796
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Published: 2014-01-05T16:00:00+00:00

“That man is Lebrun, with whom you breakfasted this morning. Your maid Félice is one of his accomplices. So is—or was—Le Morpion. So, presumably, were Curel and I. But Curel was a gentleman. We were not aware of what Lebrun intended here; I shot one of the gang en route, and was wounded, prostrated. You understand all this?”

She was staring from wide, stricken eyes.

“I was unable to prevent what happened,” went on Smith. “In order to save you, Curel and I decided to strike without delay. I killed Le Morpion this morning; but your maid, Félice, murdered Curel. Still, Félice has been attended to. There now remains Lebrun, M. le Diable himself. Against him I can do little. I am feeble, and I must depend on you to get me a weapon—a pistol, you understand? If we work together—”

“Wait!” Berangère brushed one hand across her eyes, then looked at Smith as though she had expected to see him vanish, dream-like. “You say—you are no criminal—”

“I am not,” said Smith. “Some time ago I learned that a number of M. le Diable’s gang were at large, and got a clue to them. I followed that clue, and was about to have them arrested when M. le Diable himself turned up, having escaped from Noumea. After that I was given no opportunity to bring about an arrest until we had left Saigon and it was too late—”

“But—the—reward—”

“Was offered,” and Smith smiled, “in the hope that it would remove suspicion from me, in case I were recognized—”

“Oh!” A cry broke from the girl. “You—how do I know this is not some frightful lie—”

A third voice interrupted, broke in upon them with suave insistence.

“I assure you that it is the truth, mademoiselle,” said Monsieur the Devil, as he rose from the pomegranate hedge and approached them, smiling his thin smile.

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