The bullets did not matter, it seemed, nor the roar of the firing to the right of them. Nothing mattered—except that Louis must know that she had never loved Charles.
He held her and said nothing. And she wanted him to say nothing. Then she remembered Barlasch, and looked back over her shoulder.
“Where is Barlasch?” she asked, with a sudden sinking at her heart.
“He is coming slowly,” replied Louis. “He came slowly behind you all the time, so as to draw the fire away from you.”
They turned and waited for Barlasch, who seemed to be going in the wrong direction with an odd vagueness in his movements. Louis ran towards him with Désirée at his heels.
“Ça-y-est,” said Barlasch; which cannot be translated, and yet has many meanings. “Ça-y-est.”
And he sat down slowly on the snow. He sat quite upright and rigid, and in the cold light of the Baltic dawn they saw the meaning of his words. One hand was within his fur coat. He drew it out, and concealed it from Désirée behind his back. He did not seem to see them, but presently he put out his hand and lightly touched Désirée. Then he turned to Louis with that confidential drop of the voice with which he always distinguished his friends from those who were not his friends.
“What is she doing?” he asked. “I cannot see in the dark. Is it not dark? I thought it was. What is she doing? Saying a prayer? What—because I have my affair? Hey, mademoiselle. You may leave it to me. I will get in, I tell you that.”
He put his finger to his nose, and then shook it from side to side with an air of deep cunning.
“Leave it to me. I shall slip in. Who will stop an old man, who has many wounds? Not St. Peter, assuredly. Let him try. And if the good God hears a commotion at the gate, He will only shrug His shoulders. He will say to St. Peter, ‘Let pass; it is only Papa Barlasch!’ ”
And then there was silence. For Barlasch had gone to his own people.
Colophon
Barlasch of the Guard
was published in by
Henry Seton Merriman.
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On the High Road. Retreat, Flight,
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