"I am a blunderer, as m'sieu'
say," he went on, "for he is killed, not Bigot and me, and only a
little part of the palace go to pieces. And so they fetch me here,
and I wish--my God in Heaven, I wish I go with M'sieu' Doltaire."
But he followed him a little later.
Two hours afterwards I went to the Intendance, and there I found
that the body of my enemy had been placed in the room where I had
last seen him with Alixe. He lay on the same couch where she had
lain. The flag of France covered his broken body, but his face was
untouched--as it had been in life, haunting, fascinating, though
the shifting lights were gone, the fine eyes closed. A noble peace
hid all that was sardonic; not even Gabord would now have called
him "Master Devil." I covered up his face and left him there--
peasant and prince--candles burning at his head and feet, and the
star of Louis on his shattered breast; and I saw him no more.
All that night I walked the ramparts, thinking, remembering,
hoping, waiting for the morning; and when I saw the light break
over those far eastern parishes, wasted by fire and sword, I set
out on a journey to the Valdoche Hills.
XXX
"WHERE ALL THE LOVERS CAN HIDE"
It was in the saffron light of early morning that I saw it, the
Tall Calvary of the Valdoche Hills.
The night before I had come up through a long valley, overhung
with pines on one side and crimsoning maples on the other, and,
travelling till nearly midnight, had lain down in the hollow of a
bank, and listened to a little river leap over cascades, and, far
below, go prattling on to the greater river in the south.
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