"How so?"
"She will explain it to you." Although not so nimble as Agricola, Mother Bunch soon came up, and said to the soldier: "M. Dagobert, do not let us remain before this gate. They might open it, and see us; and that would excite suspicion. Let us rather go away--"
"Suspicion!" cried the veteran, much surprised, but without moving from the gate; "what suspicion?"
"I conjure you, do not remain there!" said Mother Bunch, with so much earnestness, that Agricola joined her, and said to his father: "Since sister rashes it, father, she has some reason for it. The Boulevard de l"Hopital is a few steps from here; n.o.body pa.s.ses that way; we can talk there without being interrupted."
"Devil take me if I understand a word of all this!" cried Dagobert, without moving from his post. "The children are here, and I will fetch them away with me. It is an affair of ten minutes."
"Do not think that, M. Dagobert," said Mother Bunch. "It is much more difficult than you imagine. But come! come!--I can hear them talk in the court-yard."
In fact, the sound of voices was now distinctly audible. "Come father!"
said Agricola, forcing away the soldier, almost in spite of himself.
Spoil-sport, who appeared much astonished at these hesitations, barked two or three times without quitting his post, as if to protest against this humiliating retreat; but, being called by Dagobert, he hastened to rejoin the main body.
It was now about five o"clock in the evening. A high wind swept thick ma.s.ses of grayish, rainy cloud rapidly across the sky. The Boulevard de l"Hopital, which bordered on this portion of the convent-garden, was, as we before said, almost deserted. Dagobert, Agricola, and the serving girl could hold a private conference in this solitary place.
The soldier did not disguise the extreme impatience that these delays occasioned in him. Hardly had they turned the corner of the street, when he said to Mother Bunch: "Come, my child, explain yourself. I am upon hot coals."
"The house in which the daughters of Marshal Simon are confined is a convent, M. Dagobert."
"A convent!" cried the soldier: "I might have suspected it." Then he added: "Well, what then? I will fetch them from a convent as soon as from any other place. Once is not always."
"But, M. Dagobert, they are confined against their will and against yours. They will not give them up."
"They will not give them up? Zounds! we will see about that." And he made a step towards the street.
"Father," said Agricola, holding him back, "one moment"s patience; let us hear all."
"I will hear nothing. What! the children are there--two steps from me--I know it--and I shall not have them, either by fair means or foul? Oh!
that would indeed be curious. Let me go."
"Listen to me, I beseech you, M. Dagobert," said Mother Bunch, taking his hand: "there is another way to deliver these poor children. And that without violence--for violence, as Mdlle. de Cardoville told me, would ruin all."
"If there is any other way--quick--let me know it!"
"Here is a ring of Mdlle. de Cardoville"s."
"And who is this Mdlle. de Cardoville?"
"Father," said Agricola, "it is the generous young lady, who offered to be my bail, and to whom I have very important matters to communicate."
"Good, good," replied Dagobert; "we will talk of that presently. Well, my dear girl--this ring?"
"You must take it directly, M. Dagobert, to the Count de Montbron, No. 7, Place Vendome. He appears to be a person of influence, and is a friend of Mdlle. de Cardoville"s. This ring will prove that you come on her behalf, and you will tell him, that she is confined as a lunatic in the asylum next door to this convent, in which the daughters of Marshal Simon are detained against their will."
"Well, well--what next?"
"Then the Count de Montbron will take the proper steps with persons in authority, to restore both Mdlle. de Cardoville and the daughters of Marshal Simon to liberty--and perhaps, to-morrow, or the day after--"
"To-morrow or the day after!" cried Dagobert; "perhaps?--It is to-day, on the instant, that I must have them. The day after to-morrow would be of much use! Thanks, my good girl, but keep your ring: I will manage my own business. Wait for me here, my boy."
"What are you going to do, father?" cried Agricola, still holding back the soldier. "It is a convent, remember."
"You are only a raw recruit; I have my theory of convents at my fingers"
end. In Spain, I have put it in practice a hundred times. Here is what will happen. I knock; a portress opens the door to me; she asks me what I want, but I make no answer; she tries to stop me, but I pa.s.s on; once in the convent, I walk over it from top to bottom, calling my children with all my might."
"But, M. Dagobert, the nuns?" said Mother Bunch, still trying to detain the soldier.
"The nuns run after me, screaming like so many magpies. I know them. At Seville I fetched out an Andalusian girl, whom they were trying to keep by force. Well, I walk about the convent calling for Rose and Blanche.
They hear me, and answer. If they are shut in, I take the first piece of furniture that comes to hand, and break open the door."
"But, M. Dagobert--the nuns--the nuns?"
"The nuns, with all their squalling, will not prevent my breaking open the door, seizing my children in my arms, and carrying them off. Should the outer door be shut, there will be a second smash--that"s all. So,"
added Dagobert, disengaging himself from the grasp, "wait for me here.
In ten minutes I shall be back again. Go and get a hackney-coach ready, my boy."
More calm than Dagobert, and, above all, better informed as to the provisions of the Penal Code, Agricola was alarmed at the consequences that might attend the veteran"s strange mode of proceeding. So, throwing himself before him, he exclaimed: "One word more, I entreat you."
"Zounds! make haste!"
"If you attempt to enter the convent by force, you will ruin all."
"How so?"
"First of all, M. Dagobert," said Mother Bunch, "there are men in the convent. As I came out just now, I saw the porter loading his gun, and heard the gardener talking of his sharp scythe, and the rounds he was to make at night."
"Much I care for a porter"s gun and a gardener"s scythe!"
"Well, father; but listen to me a moment, I conjure you. Suppose you knock, and the door is opened--the porter will ask you what you want."
"I tell him that I wish to speak to the superior, and so walk into the convent."
"But, M. Dagobert," said Mother Bunch, "when once you have crossed the court-yard, you reach a second door, with a wicket. A nun comes to it, to see who rings, and does not open the door till she knows the object of the visit."
"I will tell her that I wish to see the lady superior."
"Then, father, as you are not known in the convent, they will go and inform the superior."
"Well, what then?"
"She will come down."
"What next?"
"She will ask you what you want, M. Dagobert."
"What I want?--the devil! my children!"