Wednesday 26 November 2014

Tales from the Crowned Radish: The Love of Chevalier Malartic (Part 2)



As I predicted, this year’s Nano has not gone well.  A combination of busyness and a growing lack of enthusiasm for this year’s project have left me woefully and increasingly behind.  Added to this, I am becoming increasingly certain that the idea won’t actually stretch to 50,000 words in any case.  As a final nail in the coffin lid of productivity, last week I contracted some sort of hyper-virulent, invariably terminal super-bug, no doubt cooked up in a lab somewhere by terrorists to be used as a biological weapon of global devastation. 

So those are all my excuses, neatly lined up for inspection.  The overall concept was a good one, and what I have written (just shy of 19,000 words) includes some good stuff, but I think the whole thing would benefit from a complete rewrite with significant changes.  My soul rebels at the idea of just giving up, and there are such things as glorious defeats, but I think I would be better off if I left this to simmer for a while before coming back to it, when I am a little less disheartened.

The main problem is that apart from a few sections, I have not enjoyed writing it, and I think that this shows very much in the writing.  I will leave it, and work on things that I do enjoy writing instead.

So, speaking of things I enjoyed writing, and to leave the whining and excuses to one side, I now give you the second part of my second story following those nefarious rogues and ruffians Malartic and Lampourde in The Love of Chevalier Malartic:



The Love of Chevalier Malartic (Part 2)

The year already being much advanced and a continuous rain having set in, it was already starting to get dark when the slim, cloaked figure of the girl left the tailor’s shop and hurried through the streets to run some errands for her father.  Even if she hadn’t been intent on her tasks and absorbed in her own thoughts, Annette had no reason at all to suppose that she was being hunted by dangerous and violent men.
            Hurrying along, she saw a beggar hopping towards her, one-legged and leaning on a crutch, his clothing ragged and his face obscured by the shadow of his hood.  As she approached, he held out his free hand.  “Alms miss?” he quavered hoarsely.  “Alms for an old soldier, what lost his leg in the service of His Majesty?”
            The street was quiet due to the weather, and there was no-one else in sight, so Annette drew back from the beggar rather than approaching.  The streets of Paris were the not the safest of places, and footpads and ruffians abounded even during the day, so she had every reason to suspect the man.  However her sensible caution was over-ridden by her naturally compassionate nature when the man’s crutch skidded in the mud and he began to pitch forwards. 
Instinctively, she stepped forwards to steady him, and her kindly impulse obviously pleased The Lord, for He caused a miracle to occur in that lonely, muddy little street.  Suddenly, the man’s missing leg reappeared, seemed almost to unfold itself from where it had been held up beneath the man’s coat, and the feeble old beggar suddenly became hale and strong.  He dropped the crutch, snatching the young woman up with one arm and clamping the other over her mouth.
It was the work of seconds to carry her, struggling and letting out muffled yells, into a nearby alleyway.  Here another man deftly gagged and bound her, and a sack was thrust over her head.  She was thrown over one a shoulder and carried swiftly away through the deepening gloom.
~
Lampourde locked the door while Espron lit several candles.  They were in the cellar of an empty house that had served them as a temporary prison a number of times before, and which already contained the ropes required to bind their prisoner to a chair.
            This done, Lampourde removed the sack from her head.  Annette Chaumont glared up at him, her hair considerably disordered.  She looked tired and pale, but quite unafraid.  Instead her expression was one of seething fury.
            “Cowards!  Villains!  Pigs!  Let me go or else!”
            This was the first time Lampourde had actually seen her up close and in the light, and was struck by how beautiful she was.  A slender figure, chestnut hair, clear blue eyes and the natural advantages of youth conspired to make an impression on Jacquemin Lampourde, a man who very rarely before had felt the least interest in women.  Very occasionally he had resorted to the strumpets of the Crowned Radish, but he took far less pleasure in the carnal act than he did in a good fight or an excellent plan well-executed.
            Nonetheless, he was determined to play his part.  He gave her a villainous leer and twirled his moustache.  “My dear, please calm yourself.  You need not fear, since you are only a temporary guest with us.  As soon as your father pays us a nice fat ransom, he can have you back.”
            She glared at him.  “You vile, crawling little worm!  My father is a poor man!”  She raised her chin.  “If you let me go now, I promise not to seek justice or redress.”
            The implied threat made Lampourde bark with laughter, while inwardly his heart swelled with admiration for this courageous girl who seemed not in the least afraid of the heavily armed ruffians who had her powerless.
            “My dear girl, remain quiet and give us no trouble, and we’ll return you to your family practically untouched.”  He gave her another evil grin, but this time his heart really wasn’t in it, and it came out lopsided and slightly sad.  Rallying himself, he continued.  “There’s no chance of escape, and no hope of being rescued.  No-one saw us snatch you up, and only a man of amazing resourcefulness and skill could possibly track you down.  Do you know such a man?”
            She looked him in the eye, not the least bit frightened.  “I do.”
            Lampourde blinked.  “You… you do?”
            “Yes I do.  He loves me, he will find me, and he will find you and bring you to justice if you don’t let me go immediately.”
            He tried for a wicked laugh, and nearly succeeded, a sudden unfamiliar pang passing through him at her words.  It was a feeling not altogether unfamiliar, but one which he had never before felt in regards to a woman.  Instead of attempting a retort, he turned away and busied himself with some task or other in the adjoining room, leaving Espron to watch her.
Lampourde shook his head, trying to work out what could be happening to him.  He had felt almost… well, jealous when she had spoken of Malartic in that way, beyond his surprise in discovering that she did indeed know of him and his passion.  Perhaps he was suffering a touch of indigestion?
            A couple of hours passed, and Lampourde brought her some food.  Rather than untie her and risk her trying to escape, he fed her himself. At first he thought she would refuse to eat, but after staring into his face for a moment, she allowed him to break the plain bread and cheese into small pieces that he fed her with his fingers, and poured the wine into a clay goblet which he put to her lips when she wished to drink.  He was as gentle and polite as he could be under the circumstances, and once more she stared at him with a frankness and courage that piqued his admiration yet further.  “You should let me go,” she said after staring at him for a few seconds.
            He gave a half-hearted sneer.  “Oh?  Because this invincible lover of yours will come and kill me?”
            She shook her head.  “No.  Because I don’t think you’re evil.  I think you’re a good man, and you don’t really want to do this.”
            “Hah!  You’re wrong there!”  This time he couldn’t even muster the most half-hearted leer.  “You don’t know what we might do to you next!”
            She continued to look him in the eye, unwavering.  “You’re not going to violate me.  You’d have done it by now.”
            “Oho!  Is that a fact?”
            “Yes.  You’re not that sort.”
            Lampourde raised an eyebrow, and nodded to the corner where Espron lounged in a chair.  “And what about him?  Do you think he won’t touch you?”
            She looked momentarily uncertain.  “I think he might, if you weren’t here.”  Lampourde found himself suddenly determined to defend her, almost eager to defend her, so that he could prove himself equal to her generous assessment.  It was a strange and not wholly unpleasant feeling, and one that he was not used to.  It unsettled him, and he once again removed himself from her presence, and the discomfort that she brought.
            He passed into the next room, trying to think of other things, going over in his mind the arrangements made with Malartic.  Instead he found her face in his mind’s eye, her blue eyes and courageous expression floating before ghostlike him.  He could hear her voice, but not through any action of his ears, and he fought the urge to rush to her and set her free at once.
            Several hours passed, during which Lampourde tried to stay away from the girl, letting Espron keep an eye on her.  The one problem with jobs like this was the boredom.  Happily he knew that Malartic would arrive shortly, but nonetheless waiting around keeping an eye on the girl was incredibly dull.  Espron had taken out a pair of dice and rolled them idly on the small table, peering at the numbers, tutting and scooping them up to repeat the process over and over.  The rattle of bone on wood swiftly became intolerable, and he could see that Annette was also finding it irritating, although she dared not speak out.  This somehow made it even worse.
            “Stop that!” he snapped.  Espron’s eyes widened in shock, before narrowing in annoyance, and unconsciously his hand dropped to his sword.  Instinctively, Lampourde’s did likewise.  The two glared at each other for a few seconds, their criminal pride as great and as sensitive as any duke or baron.
            Lampourde realised that Annette was watching them, and after a moment, sighed and dropped his hand away from his rapier hilt.  He gave a tight smile, bowing slightly.  “My apologies for my tone monsieur, but please refrain from rolling your dice in that way.”
            Espron returned the bow with a curt nod and a grunt, but he returned the dice to his purse and settled back in his chair.  The next few minutes passed in tense silence, and Lampourde was on the point of retreating from the room once again when the door crashed open to reveal the Chevalier Malartic, dressed in his finest clothing, and with rapier and dagger drawn.  Lampourde breathed a sigh of relief, but was suddenly hit by a cold twist of something in his stomach.  Malartic was here for Annette as agreed, and Lampourde suddenly realised that he had no wish to give her to him.
            However, Malartic was his closest friend, and they had made an agreement.  Desperately forcing down these bizarre and unfamiliar sensations that roiled through him, Lampourde turned to face the sham rescuer.
            “Halt, villains!  Let the lady go and I may let you live!”
            “Hah!  Begone fool, before I get angry!”
            “Your last chance, rascal, release the young lady or pay the price!”
Lampourde turned to Annette.  “I apologise mademoiselle, but I am going to be forced to kill your misguided love.”
            She frowned, but before she could reply, Lampourde turned, drawing sword and poniard in a fluid motion as he leapt at Malartic.  The pale-skinned swordsman was ready for him, deflecting his first lunge with his dagger while his sword flicked at Lampourde’s face.  Lampourde beat this aside with his own dagger, leaping back and slashing low.  They both fell on their guard, circling cautiously.  With his back to Annette, Malartic winked.  Lampourde managed a sickly half-smile in response, a cold weight sitting in his stomach.
            With Annette watching, and Espron quietly withdrawing, so that the victorious Malartic wouldn’t have to ‘deal’ with him as well, the two finest swordsmen in Paris got to work.  Swords and daggers flashed back and forth, setting a rapid staccato rhythm.  Malartic’s first attack was parried, he deflected the riposte, counter-attacked in his turn, his blade darting high, low, high again.  Each time Lampourde’s blade was there to flick aside his attacks and he lunged forwards, his rapier gliding out.  Had Malartic not hurled himself backwards, Lampourde’s point would have been protruding several inches out from his back.
            The battle was fast and vicious, and not even the most observant watcher could have been able to tell that it wasn’t in the most deadly earnest.  In actual fact, it was barely a pretence at all, each relying on the superlative skill of the other to ward off attacks that were delivered with almost all of the speed and skill they could muster.
            Minutes passed, the two moving back and forth across the floor, traversing, dodging, lunging.  It was Lampourde’s usual habit to provide a running commentary during a fight, not through any wish to distract his opponent, but because he took such pleasure and professional interest in the art of swordsmanship and loved to observe and discuss his opponent’s technique.  This time though he fought in silence, his face grave and his eyes locked upon the gleaming blade of his friend.
            Malartic was beginning to tire, and he signalled to Lampourde to bring the fight to its pre-arranged conclusion, but Lampourde appeared not to notice, attacking with as much speed and ferocity as before.  Malartic was forced back, parrying rapidly.  Swearing under his breath, he signalled again but still Lampourde seemed oblivious.
            The tall swordsman lunged, binding Malartic’s rapier with his dagger.  Malartic’s own dagger swept aside Lampourde’s sword but the ashy-faced criminal had nowhere left to retreat to and his back slammed into the wooden wall, where he found himself pinned, dagger locked to sword, and sword to dagger, his face inches from Lampourde’s.
            “That’s enough!” he hissed.  “We’ve done enough, now let me win for goodness sake!”
            “I… I can’t.”  Lampourde’s face was a picture of misery and conflict.
            “What?!”
“I can’t give her up.”
  “Why not?”
            “Malartic my friend, I’m so sorry, I don’t know how this has happened!”
            “What?  How what’s happened?”
            “I… I’ve fallen in love with her too.”
            Malartic stared at him for a moment, then his eyes widened.  “Traitor!” he snarled.  “Betrayer! “  With a strength born of fury, he thrust forwards with both arms, heaving Lampourde back, leaping after him with a yell of rage.
            If their fighting before had been a display of highly skilled fencing, the art of swordsmanship now attained a zenith never seen before or since.  The blades of the two men were flickering blurs, daggers flashing out to deflect, bind and parry.  They barely moved their feet; no more advance, retreat and traverse, the two only shifting to lunge and recover.  Malartic’s pale face was a corpse-like white, drawn into in a furious snarl, while Lampourde’s was set in a frown of concentration, the gleam of the blades reflected in his eyes.
            A minute passed as their blades flew like lightning and it seemed impossible that neither of them had been touched, then Malartic gasped as Lampourde’s blade pierced his arm.  In that split second, Lampourde could have put his point through the smaller man’s throat, but he hesitated, his expression appalled as he realised he’d wounded his friend.  Malartic however just snarled and slashed low, opening a deep cut across Lampourde’s thigh in his moment of indecision.
            He staggered back, blood soaking into the cloth of his breeches as his mind registered what had happened.  He blinked in astonishment as the sting of his wound reached his brain.  His eyes widened, and with a bellow of rage, he hurled himself forwards.  Malartic yelled and rushed to meet him.  No longer were they fencing, barely could their fight be called swordsmanship as they stabbed, hacked and gouged at each other in berserk fury.
            Lampourde’s dagger opened a cut across Malartic’s chest, while his friend drove his sword guard into Lampourde’s face.  Lampourde once again tried to bring his dagger in, only to find it ripped from his hand. Malartic grinned in triumph, lunging in but suddenly found Lampourde’s left hand closing with an iron grip over his wrist.  The larger man turned on the ball of his foot and hurled Malartic over his shoulder, throwing him fully six feet through the air to crash to the floor.
            He hurled himself after the fallen man, but Malartic rolled, bringing his sword up, and Lampourde had to twist desperately to the side to avoid impaling himself.  Instead, Malartic’s point raked his ribs, more blood oozing out to soak into his clothes.  He kicked out, catching Malartic’s sword-hand with his boot and sending his friend’s rapier clattering across the floor.
            The smaller man rapidly switched his dagger to his right hand, then Lampourde was throwing himself forwards again, point aimed unerringly at his heart.  Malartic almost managed to parry the longer blade, knocking it away from his chest.  Instead the point slammed into the meat of his left shoulder and he yelled in pain as Lampourde’s momentum sent him slamming into his comrade and they both crashed to the floor.
            They writhed, hilt locked to hilt.  Lampourde was larger and stronger and rolled on top, pinning his comrade to the floor, but Malartic writhed like an eel, using his left hand to punch at his friend’s face, his throat, his stomach.  Lampourde bore these blows stoically, slowly forcing down Malartic’s right hand, while struggling to get his left around Malartic’s throat.  Despite Malartic’s increasingly frantic and savage blows, Lampourde’s fingers closed around the smaller man’s windpipe and started to squeeze.
            Malartic’s eyes bulged and his face started to turn very slightly pink.  He let out a gurgle, struggling against Lampourde’s iron grip.  He was unable to break free, but thrashing around, his vision starting to cloud, he finally got enough room to bring his knee up as hard as his failing strength allowed, right between Lampourde’s legs.  Lampourde stiffened.   Then, letting out a soft sigh he released his hold on Malartic’s throat and gently toppled sideways, slowly curling into a ball.
            The silence was broken only by Malartic’s desperate gasps and coughs and the slightly laboured breathing of Lampourde.   The two lay motionless on the floor, side by side.  Suddenly, footsteps could be heard on the stairs down into the cellar, and they both looked up to see a handsome young man enter, modestly dressed and armed with sword and pistol.
            Annette looked up and saw him, and her expression was one of joy.  “Raoul!”
            “Annette, my darling!”  He rushed over to her, keeping a cautious eye on the two men lying prostrate on the floor.  They stared back at him, Malartic still gasping for breath, while Lampourde watched through a haze of pain and the growing swelling around his eyes where Malartic had repeatedly struck him, neither able to move.
            The young man quickly untied her and she threw herself into his arms.  “Oh my love, I knew you’d find me!”
            “Of course!  I’d have gone into hell itself to get you back!  Now quickly, while these villains are incapacitated.”
            “But that one isn’t a villain, he tried to save me!”  She turned to Malartic.  “Monsieur,” she said, “I don’t know who you are, though you seem vaguely familiar, but I can only thank you for your gallantry in attempting to rescue me.”  Malartic stared up at her, unable to speak as his chest heaved for breath.  “My father is a tailor on the Rue de Berrualt, and I’d be glad to thank you properly if you visit me there.”  With that, the two young lovers turned and fled together out of the cellar and out onto the street.  All that the two exhausted criminals could do was watch them go.
            Silence once more descended, and Malartic’s breathing gradually became less laboured.  Lampourde slowly uncurled as the pain decreased, and the two swordsmen turned to look at each other.  Their clothes were torn and blood-stained, Lampourde’s face was a mass of swelling while Malartic’s left arm hung virtually useless and his throat was purple with bruising.  For some time they stared at each other without speaking.
            “I think,” Malartic said eventually, his voice a hoarse whisper, “that I need a drink.”  Lampourde nodded, and slowly, painfully began to rise to his feet. 
            “My friend,” he said, his voice  tight, “I-“  Malartic raised a hand and cut him off.
            “Lampourde, say nothing.”  He stood laboriously.  “There is nothing to apologise for.  In fact, I think that we should never speak of this ever again.”
            Lampourde nodded, relieved.  “Agreed.”
            Malartic paused.  “Oh, yes.  There is one thing though.”
            “Which is?”
            “I want my money back.”  There was a brief pause, then Lampourde passed Malartic’s purse to him without a word.
Then, very slowly and very stiffly, one of them walking with a limp and a pronounced stoop, the two started back towards the Crowned Radish.


Finis

Monday 10 November 2014

Tales from the Crowned Radish: The Love of Chevalier Malartic



A few posts ago, I promised that if you were all very good, I’d post the next of my new adventures of Malartic and Lampourde, stol- uh, I mean adapted from the pages of Captain Fracasse by Theophile Gaultier.

Having scoured the news sites, I’ve been unable to find solid evidence pointing to a correlation between people who read this blog, and those who are on trial for crimes against humanity in the Hague.  As a result, I have decided to post the first part of my next story.

It includes a line that may well be my very favourite out of all those that I have ever written and can still remember (somewhere out there, there’s a Venn diagram showing the relationship between the two groups).  I’m not telling you which it is.  I don’t want to prejudice your opinions.
 So without further ado, here it is.  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.




The Love of the Chevalier Malartic  (Part 1)

Early one evening, Maitre Jacquemin Lampourde arrived at the entrance to The Crowned Radish, that notorious den of thieves and ne’er-do-wells deep in the worst part of Louis the Thirteenth’s capital.  Drawing the dagger that always hung at the back of his belt, he used the pommel to strike the door just so.  In response to this code, the door was opened, and he passed into the dimly-lit, smoky interior, the buzz of voices and the singing of lewd songs spilling out to meet him.
            He nodded and smiled at some of those he saw, touching his hat respectfully to a few others as he crossed the taproom to his usual table.  He stopped short though when he saw that, against all use and custom, it was already occupied.  Irritation mingled with anticipation at the thought of a fight, but these were dispelled a moment later when he saw that the occupant was his friend, colleague and partner in crime, the ashy-skinned, red-nosed Chevalier Malartic.
            Lampourde blinked in astonishment.  In all their long association, he could not recall a single time that Malartic had arrived at The Crowned Radish before him.  Usually he would have a couple of hours to sit in solitude and drink, or join one of the many games of skill and chance that were going on at all hours of the day and night, before his curious-looking cohort appeared.  Tonight though, for the very first time, Malartic had preceded him.
            “What the devil are you doing here at this hour?”  Lampourde was in many things a creature of habit, and this disruption to his usual routine had soured his mood.
            Malartic had been sitting hunched over a cup of wine, but now he looked up, and his expression was one of such abject misery that Lampourde was suddenly ashamed of his annoyance, and instead sat down next to his friend.
            “S’blood!  What on Earth’s the matter?”
            Malartic sighed deeply, taking a long draught of wine before he spoke.  “Lampourde, I have a problem.”
            “Oh?  Are you wounded?”
            “No, it’s not that.”
            “Creditors then?  Your landlord is after the rent?”
            “It’s not that either.  I’m paid up for the next month.”
            “You’re out of money.  This is what comes of paying rent in advance!  No matter, I can pay for a meal, and tonight we’ll go and find work.”
            “I’m not out of money!”
            “You haven’t got the pox have you?”
            “No!”
            “Then what’s the matter?”
            “I… I’m in love.”
            Lampourde stared at him for a second.  “In love?”
            “Yes.”
            “Are you certain?  Perhaps it’s indigestion?”
            “I tell you I’m in love!!!”  Malartic slammed his hand down on the table angrily, his pale cheeks taking on a very slight pinkishness which signified what in other men would have been crimson fury.  The raised voice and the crash of his fist on the table brought all nearby conversations to an end, men turning to look, already halfway to their feet.  When they saw that no brawl was about to erupt and that the watch hadn’t broken down the door, they slowly relaxed, two dozen hands gently releasing the grips of knives, daggers, pistols and swords.  Gradually the dull hum of conversation built up to its previous level.
            “Very well.  If you say you’re in love, then you’re in love.  But why is it a problem?”
            Malartic looked straight at him.  “Lampourde, would you say I am a brave man?”
            “Of course!  You’ll happily face down three strong ruffians without a thought, and musket balls are of no more account to you than buzzing flies.”
            “And you would say that I’m skilful?  Cunning?”
            “Naturally.  You’re expert with sword and pistol, you climb like a monkey and walk silently as a shadow.  Your schemes are subtle and ingenious and have only been known to fail but once, and that through no true fault of your own.”
            “Indeed, and yet before a single woman, I am a bumbling, helpless coward.”
            “But surely it can’t be as bad as all that?”
            “Lampourde, I am not, I hope, lacking in self-respect.  I am a man aware of his own qualities and his own faults.  Overall I am satisfied with myself, but I will honestly confess, without any maudlin self-pity, that my appearance is one calculated to engender curiosity rather than admiration.”
            “I would agree that your appearance is perhaps unconventional…”
            “I am ugly, Lampourde, and I don’t mind saying it.  I rarely mind other people saying it.  One must always resent an insult, but it is hard to challenge a man for speaking the inarguable truth.”
            “Supposing that to be the case, physical looks are not everything.  In all other respects you are quite the dashing cavalier, the sort that women love.”
            “Not this one.”
            “No?”
            “She is completely unaware of my existence.”
            Lampourde nodded.  “A fault in her character that we shall endeavour to correct.”
            Malartic sighed.  “Impossible.”
            “Nonsense.  Who is this divine creature that has pierced the heart of the Chevalier Malartic, where three score soldiers, villains and watchmen have failed?”
            “Annette…”  The word was like a prayer on the ashy-faced swordsman’s lips.  “The daughter of a tailor on the Rue de Ferrault.”
            “And she has rejected your advances?”
            “She didn’t even notice them.  I was reduced to a mumbling imbecile in her presence.  She treated me kindly, and asked me to leave.  I think she thought me drunk.”
            “I see.”  Lampourde took a long draught of wine, frowning in concentration.  He suddenly snorted in self-derision.  “You are not the only imbecile my friend!  The answer is of course obvious, as I should have seen immediately.  We must merely apply our usual methods to ourselves, and mingle business with pleasure.”
            Malartic frowned at him.  “What do you mean?”
            “This wonderful woman truly has paralysed your wits hasn’t she?  Have you not been hired more than once before by some love-struck swain to kidnap the object of his desire, so that he could sweep in and pluck her from your arms, paying you well to make him seem an invincible hero?”
            His friend stared at him.  “Yes, of course!”
            “The solution is simple then.  I shall play the evil villain who seizes and whisks away this girl, for who dares contemplate what foul purpose.  Having held her for some short time in a convenient and secure location, I shall be foiled by the peerless courage and undefeatable blade of the noble Malartic!”
            “Wonderful!”
            “This woman, unless her heart is carved from granite, will be filled with gratitude for her deliverance and suffused with wonder for your superlative skill and courage.  Why, if we two can’t stage the greatest sham battle in the history of swordsmanship, we should become farmers immediately!”
            “Excellent!  My dear friend, I will be for ever in your debt.”  Malartic paused, a thoughtful look crossing his curiously hued face.  “Naturally I’ll pay.”
            “What?  Don’t be an idiot.  This isn’t business, it’s a favour for a friend!”
            “That you will be performing when you could be out earning your keep in our usual way.  No Lampourde, I insist that I shall be allowed to pay you the usual fee for work of this kind.”
           The fiercely moustachioed swordsman nodded reluctantly.  “Very well then.  I will accept the coin, but under protest.”
            “Protest noted and overridden.”  Malartic drew a purse from his doublet, peered inside, and then passed it to his comrade.  “That should come to about the correct amount.”  Lampourde peered into it as well, and grunted his agreement.  The landlord brought a fresh bottle of wine, and the two set themselves to planning the job.
~

The next day, a man dressed in his finest, with his hat brushed and his moustache trimmed, waxed and curled had entered a small tailor’s shop on the Rue de Ferrault on the pretext of buying a new pair of gloves.  Had it been any other, he could have been said to be pale with trepidation.  As this was the Chevalier Malartic, it was impossible to tell, but this hero of duels, ambushes, skirmishes and brawls was inwardly trembling and terrified.  He had managed to sustain a brief, stammering conversation with the pleasant young woman who’d helped her father attend to his needs, and thanking her profusely, he had left.  He immediately fled to the nearest tavern to purchase a volume of tonic for the steadying of his palpitating heart.
            Here, while he waited for his trembling limbs to still, he informed the men waiting there that he had discovered that the girl lived above the shop with her father and mother, but that she would be going shopping later that day.
            “She barely looked at me,” he complained.  “Oh,” he continued bitterly, “and she has a suitor.”
            “Bah!”  Lampourde dismissed this with a wave of his hand.  “This little nothing will pale in comparison with the hero who rescues her from the clutches of kidnappers and criminals!  Put him out of your mind.  And if you can’t do that, we can always kill him.”
            “Perhaps we should leave that as a back-up plan.  You’re confident that you can spirit her away unharmed?”
            Lampourde gave him a reproachful look.  “I’m no amateur.  Espron here isn’t exactly a novice either.”  The other man, a thin, wiry ruffian with a scarred face, who acted as an occasional accomplice to the two criminals, nodded.
          “Very well.  I leave everything in your capable hands.  Just… just be careful.  Don’t hurt her at all.”
            Lampourde smiled.  “Relax my friend.  Nothing will go wrong.”
 
To be continued...