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The Frontier By: Maurice Leblanc (1864-1941) |
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BY MAURICE LEBLANC AUTHOR OF "ARSENE LUPIN," "813," ETC. TRANSLATED BY ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS [Illustration: Publisher's logo] HODDER & STOUGHTON
NEW YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
Copyright, 1912,
By Maurice Leblanc Copyright, 1912,
By George H. Doran Company
CONTENTS
PART I CHAPTER PAGE I A HEAD BETWEEN THE BUSHES 3 II THE GIRL WITH THE BARE ARMS 17 III THE VIOLET PAMPHLET 30 IV PHILIPPE AND HIS WIFE 46 V THE SHEET OF NOTE PAPER 58 VI THE PLASTER STATUE 66 VII EVE TRIUMPHANT 76 VIII THE TRAP 94
PART II I THE TWO WOMEN 107 II PHILIPPE TELLS A LIE 118 III FATHER AND SON 133 IV THE ENQUIRIES 150 V THE THUNDERCLAP 164 VI THE BUTTE AUX LOUPS 177 VII MARTHE ASKS A QUESTION 195 VIII THE STAGES TO CALVARY 208
PART III I THE ARMED VIGIL 233 II THEY WHO GO TO THEIR DEATH 249 III IDEAS AND FACTS 268 IV THE SACRED SOIL 281
THE FRONTIER
PART I
CHAPTER I A HEAD BETWEEN THE BUSHES
"They've done it!" "What?" "The German frontier post ... at the circus of the Butte aux Loups." "What about it?" "Knocked down." "Nonsense!" "See for yourself." Old Morestal stepped aside. His wife came out of the drawing room and
went and stood by the telescope, on its tripod, at the end of the
terrace. "I can see nothing," she said, presently. "Don't you see a tree standing out above the others, with lighter
foliage?" "Yes." "And, to the right of that tree, a little lower down, an empty space
surrounded by fir trees?" "Yes." "That's the circus of the Butte aux Loups and it marks the frontier at
that spot." "Ah, I've got it!... There it is!... You mean on the ground, don't you?
Lying flat on the grass, exactly as if it had been rooted up by last
night's storm...." "What are you talking about? It has been fairly felled with an axe: you
can see the gash from here." "So I can ... so I can...." She stood up and shook her head: "That makes the third time this year.... It will mean more
unpleasantness." "Fiddle de dee!" he exclaimed. "All they've got to do is to put up a
solid post, instead of their old bit of wood." And he added, in a tone
of pride, "The French post, two yards off, doesn't budge, you know!" "Well, of course not! It's made of cast iron and cemented into the
stone." "Let them do as much then! It's not money they're wanting ... when you
think of the five thousand millions they robbed us of!... No, but, I say
... three of them in eight months!... How will the people take it, on
the other side of the Vosges?" He could not hide the sort of gay and sarcastic feeling of content that
filled his whole being and he walked up and down the terrace, stamping
his feet as hard as he could on the ground. But, suddenly going to his wife, he seized her by the arm and said, in
a hollow voice: "Would you like to know what I really think?" "Yes." "Well, all this will lead to trouble." "No," said the old lady, quietly. "How do you mean, no?" "We've been married five and thirty years; and, for five and thirty
years, you've told me, week after week, that we shall have trouble. So,
you see...." She turned away from him and went back to the drawing room again, where
she began to dust the furniture with a feather broom. He shrugged his shoulders, as he followed her indoors: "Oh, yes, you're the placid mother, of course! Nothing excites you. As
long as your cupboards are tidy, your linen all complete and your jams
potted, you don't care!... Still, you ought not to forget that they
killed your poor father." "I don't forget it ... only, what's the good? It's more than forty years
ago...." "It was yesterday," he said, sinking his voice, "yesterday, no longer
ago than yesterday... Continue reading book >>
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Literature |
Mystery |
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