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Article THE LUCKY INHERITANCE. ← Page 16 of 19 →
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The Lucky Inheritance.
the equanimity of the inmates of the " Pelican" than was the case , I found , Avhen I rose the next morning , in consequence of some extraordinary event that had recently occurred . I went doAvn to the salon , where a number of persons had assembled , in the midst of whommounted on a chairAvas a humphacked
, , tailor , who , with great volubility , was regaling his audience with a narrative , to which they were listening Avith all their ears . As I entered the room I caught the ominous Avords , " vol , avec effraction "— " burglarious robbery , " and I asked the landlord of the " Pelican" to Avhat it related . Had the church been broken
into and the silver image of St . Meriadec been carried away ?—an event not Avithout its parallel two or three centuries before , Avhen some pirates made a descent upon the coast . It Avas not so bad as that , but very nearly so ; for burglary was a crime unknoAvn in Guerande . I learnt that during the previous night , the house No . 34 in the Rue de Guenic had been
broken into and a robbery committed . The humpbacked tailor , the earliest amongst the early risers , had made the discovery in passing by , the open street-door attracting his attention . It Avas the house of Monsieur Roqueplan , the newly-arrived heir of the octogenarian miller of Clis . But Avhere was he ? That the tailor could not say ; there Avere no signs of an inmate ,
no appearances indicative of personal violence to any one , but that an act of violence had taken place the broken locks of a large coffer and a Avardrobe sufficiently testified . What had become , then , of Monsieur Roqueplan ? It was known to the neighbours that he had slept there the night before , together
Avith a stranger Avho had arrived m his company from St . Nazaire : indeed , they had both been seen together in the street about the middle of the previous day . It was now my turn to say something ; and I stepped forward into the circle , where I found not only the humpbacked tailor on the chair , but a tall gendarme seated at a table , laboriously employed in drawing up a
proces verbal . Having briefly stated that accident had made me acquainted Avith the person of Monsieur Roqueplan , I described our conversation in the market-place , and concluded by observing that , if anything had gone Avrong with him , in my opinion it must have taken place Avithout the Avails of Guerande . I did not forget to add thatabout eleven o ' clock on the night before ,
, I had seen a man in a peasant ' s dress proceeding toAvards the Rue de Guenic , who , I noAV had no doubt , Avas the person calling himself Monsieur Chevillon , and a robber , if not something Avorse . On hearing this statement the gendarme , the same Avhom I had seen at the toAvn-gate when I entered it , came to the con-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Lucky Inheritance.
the equanimity of the inmates of the " Pelican" than was the case , I found , Avhen I rose the next morning , in consequence of some extraordinary event that had recently occurred . I went doAvn to the salon , where a number of persons had assembled , in the midst of whommounted on a chairAvas a humphacked
, , tailor , who , with great volubility , was regaling his audience with a narrative , to which they were listening Avith all their ears . As I entered the room I caught the ominous Avords , " vol , avec effraction "— " burglarious robbery , " and I asked the landlord of the " Pelican" to Avhat it related . Had the church been broken
into and the silver image of St . Meriadec been carried away ?—an event not Avithout its parallel two or three centuries before , Avhen some pirates made a descent upon the coast . It Avas not so bad as that , but very nearly so ; for burglary was a crime unknoAvn in Guerande . I learnt that during the previous night , the house No . 34 in the Rue de Guenic had been
broken into and a robbery committed . The humpbacked tailor , the earliest amongst the early risers , had made the discovery in passing by , the open street-door attracting his attention . It Avas the house of Monsieur Roqueplan , the newly-arrived heir of the octogenarian miller of Clis . But Avhere was he ? That the tailor could not say ; there Avere no signs of an inmate ,
no appearances indicative of personal violence to any one , but that an act of violence had taken place the broken locks of a large coffer and a Avardrobe sufficiently testified . What had become , then , of Monsieur Roqueplan ? It was known to the neighbours that he had slept there the night before , together
Avith a stranger Avho had arrived m his company from St . Nazaire : indeed , they had both been seen together in the street about the middle of the previous day . It was now my turn to say something ; and I stepped forward into the circle , where I found not only the humpbacked tailor on the chair , but a tall gendarme seated at a table , laboriously employed in drawing up a
proces verbal . Having briefly stated that accident had made me acquainted Avith the person of Monsieur Roqueplan , I described our conversation in the market-place , and concluded by observing that , if anything had gone Avrong with him , in my opinion it must have taken place Avithout the Avails of Guerande . I did not forget to add thatabout eleven o ' clock on the night before ,
, I had seen a man in a peasant ' s dress proceeding toAvards the Rue de Guenic , who , I noAV had no doubt , Avas the person calling himself Monsieur Chevillon , and a robber , if not something Avorse . On hearing this statement the gendarme , the same Avhom I had seen at the toAvn-gate when I entered it , came to the con-