Bardelys the Magnificent; being an account of the strange wooing pursued by the Sieur Marcel de Saint-Pol, marquis of Bardelys... by Rafael Sabatini
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page 31 of 301 (10%)
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a chain about my neck with a locket. Take it from me. Take it now,
monsieur. There are some papers also, monsieur. Take all. I want to see them safely in your keeping." I did his bidding, and from the breast of his doublet I drew some loose letters and a locket which held the miniature of a woman's face. "I want you to deliver all to her, monsieur." "It shall be done," I answered, deeply moved. "Hold it - hold it up," he begged, his voice weakening. "Let me behold the face." Long his eyes rested on the likeness I held before him. At last, as one in a dream-- "Well-beloved," he sighed. "Bien aimee!" And down his grey, haggard cheeks the tears came slowly. "Forgive this weakness, monsieur," he whispered brokenly. "We were to have been wed in a month, had I lived." He ended with a sob, and when next he spoke it was more labouredly, as though that sob had robbed him of the half of what vitality remained. "Tell her, monsieur, that my dying thoughts were of her. Tell - tell her - I--" "Her name?" I cried, fearing he would sink before I learned it. "Tell me her name." He looked at me with eyes that were growing glassy and vacant. Then |
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