Show 12 I 1 e YEO 10 afa tone V c capy lauzet nodded his bald head bead in sympathy lie ile also passed a moist hot finger around the turn of tits his cravat this allusion to failure in connection with the desired capture ot of the scarlet pimpernel had bad started an unpleasant train ot of thought ive only told you an all tills my good louzet auzet I chaumelin Chau velin went on with a sarcastic curl of his thin lips in order to make you realize the value which in spite of my avowed failures the committee of public safety still set upon my advice they have disgraced me it Is true but only outwardly and this they have bave only done in order to leave me a wider scope for my activities particularly in connection with the tha tracking down of spies As an actual member of the committee I 1 was obviously an important personage whose every movement was in the public eye now as an outwardly obscure agent I 1 come and go in secret I 1 can lay plans I 1 can help and I 1 can advise without arousing attention above till nil I 1 can remain the guiding head bead prepared to use such fe fearless arles patriots as you are yourself in the great cause which we all have at heart the bringing to justice of a band of english spies together with theli elusive chief the scarlet pimpernel well spoken friend chaumelin Chau velin citizen lauzet rejoined with a tone toile ot of perplexity in his busky bushy voice and believe me it was because I 1 bad a true inkling of what youve just said that in in my Y anxiety an slety I 1 beg begged you son to come and give me the benefit of your tour experience now tell me he went on eagerly how do you advise me to proceed chaumelin Chau velin before he replied to this direct question had bad another drink of wine then be smacked his lips set down his glass and finally said with slow deliberation to begin with my good lauzet try to bethink yourself of some family in your district whose position shall we say approaches roost most nearly to that of the cl devant tour non dagenals before their arrest that family should consist of at least one woman or better still one or two young children or even an old man or an imbecile anything in fact to arouse specially that old fashioned weakness which for want of a better word we will call sympathy that kind of brood swarms in every district all you have to do Is 0 N all you have to do Is to open your eyes to open your eyes anyway having settled on a family which will become be come our tool for the object we have iu in i view you will order a summary per to be made by your gend armelle Inthe in their lr house you will cause the bead of the family to be brought before you and you will interrogate him first and detain hire under sus sua dicion A second will then not come amiss to in fact you will 1111 have it bruited bruised lill all over the neighborhood that this particular family has been denounced as suspect and that their arrest and subsequent trial in paris on a charge of treason Is only a 0 matter of days you understand 1 I 7 do lauzet lanzet replied in a tone that bounded decidedly perplexed and unconvinced ant l there Is no but about it chauve lin retorted brusquely you have havea asked nay my help and I 1 give you my or ders derk all you have to do Is to obey and not to argue Is that cleair cle tir quite quite clear my good friend arlt nd lauzet hastened to assure himin fact I 1 already have some one in my mind vilh Is all to the good chauve alln broke InI curtly on the hi ilance of clr w zeal avnir row ird will ivill IS j I 1 lr v I 1 MI 1 I i n I 1 ii if 1 mp me ut i IS ruction ili us to antl n nii yu yiu wil v alf arrange ns nn arrest ot 0 tills family as you can the more it I 1 Is in the neighborhood the better beltri for our purpose you yon un der gerstandt 1 I do I 1 do lanzet I adze t said en gorly I 1 1 see your bhole scheme now you yoi want to induce the spies to t exert esert on OD behalf of this family so hint IT exactly I 1 therefore the more sym I 1 pathy you can evoke for them the bet ter a pretty girl nn an invalid a crip ale anything like that flint will rouse the I 1 focally so FO calle chi chivalry of those spies then I 1 having efre effected eted your arrest you yon arrange to convey convel the family to paris I aw nod do so apparently under rather 1 feeble escort say not more than four conr men not more than tour four men remember Chan Chou velin reiterated with slow emphasis ns visible escort 1 I understand instead of the usual chaise for conveying spur prisoners to paris you will use the local diligence ana having disposed of the prisoners inside the vehicle you will have it further packed with halt half a dozen or more picked men from your local gendarme erle erie armed with pistols and you will take taho a leaf out ot of the scarlet plin pim kernels per nels own book boob because that halt half dozen picked men will be als disguised as other aristos lif in distress women cripples old meu men or what you will you can then go even a little further in your trickery and arrange a break dovi dovin n for your tour diligence in the loneliest one bit of road to in the forest of Me cres and choose the twilight for your alseen nilse en scene then but lauzet could no longer restrain his enthusiasm oh then theal I 1 I 1 see it all aall I 1 he exclaimed eagerly the band of english spies will have been on the watch for the diligence they will attack it thinking that it Is but feebly guarded cut but this time we shall be ready tor for them and but suddenly his bis enthusiasm failed his round fat face lost its glow of excitement and his small round eyes stared tn in comic perplexity at his friend cut but suppose lie he murmured they think thin better of it and allow the dill genee to proceed in peace or suppose that they are engaged in their nefarious deeds in some other department of france then Chauvel ln rejoined coolly nil all have to do would be to continue your journey to paris and set your tour family flown down in the ready to await trial and the inevitable guillotine no harm harin will have been done therell be a family of gralto traitors rs less in your di district anyway and you must be begir ir the setting of your comedy all over again sooner or later if you set your trap in the way I 1 have outlined for you that cursed scarlet pimpernel will fall into it sooner or later he be reiterated emphatically 1 I am sure of it my only regret Is that I 1 think of this plan before now iloween Ilo weer theres nothing I 1 ost lost and all I 1 can do now my friend Is to wish NOU success if you succeed you are a made man arid and you will succeed Chau chaumelin hau velin concluded rising and holding out his hand to his colleague if 11 ou on follow my instructions to the last letter you may be sure ill do that laurel said with earnest emphasis and the two sleuth hounds shook hands on their project and drank a 0 lass of wine to its success but belore before Chauvel ln finally took I 1 leave eave of I 1 I 1 Is friend be turned to him with rei ewed earnestness and solemnity and aboe all my good lauzet i i 0 sold said slowly remember renie rober that in all ails your watchword must be silence mil and discretion breathe but a word ii f your intentions to a living soul and I 1 ou nu are bound to fall fail the english ies have their spies who serve them vell ell they have a long purse purse which rill alternatively purchase help froni from friends and treachery froni ours dereathe not ot of your project to any living soul friend lauzet or your I 1 1 ad hlll pay the price of your indiscretion C c lauzet was only too ready to give tie ne required promise and the two f lends ends then parted on a note of mu t ial al confidence and esteem CHAPTER ill III enmeshed A fortnight later the whole of 0 the lille i lie city of colsson was to ili a ferment tin living to the arrest of one of its most r specter tradesmen citizen deneze io anyone would have thought was i isol sol above suspicion had been 1 i it t to the indignity of a summary I 1 requisition in hla his house no ile had pro sted as was only natural under the and in consequence of z provolt he lind boea j dragged r agg eta before afo re lee in critel of i section ec i at mantes and had bad to submit to a most rigorous and most humiliating inter rogatory nay morel ile he was detained tor for two whole days wh while ile his invalid wife and pretty little daugh ter were well nigh distraught with anxiety then on the top ot of that there followed another busl as if 11 anyone could suspect the deneze family of treason against their country they certainly had bad never been hotly in favor of the extreme measures taken by the revolutionary government such as the execution ot of the erstwhile king and of marle marie antoinette cl devant queen of france but citizen deneze tied had always abstained from politics he had bad been wont to say gay that god not men ruled the destinies of countries end and that no doubt what was happening these days in france occurred by the win will of god or they could never occur at all ile he tor for life his part was content to sell good vintage wines from macon or duits nuits just as his other father had done before him film and his grandfather before that for the house of f deneze wine merchants ol of moisson Mols son in the department of selve seine et oise had been established for three generations mile rations ind and more and had always been a pattern of commercial ln an and lofty to be e |