Page:Braddon--The Trail of the Serpent.djvu/178

174 "And," said Richard, "on the top of this wall was a chevaux-de-frise."

"Dear me," exclaimed the Emperor, "quite a what-you-may-call-it. I mean an extraordinary coincidence; we too have a chevaux-de-thing-a-me, for the purpose, I believe, of keeping out the cats. Cats are unpleasant; especially," he added, thoughtfully, "especially the Tom-sex—I mean the sterner sex."

"To surmount this wall was my great difficulty."

"Naturally, naturally," said the damsel, "a great undertaking, considering the fall in muffins—a dangerous undertaking."

"There was a boat waiting to receive me on the other side," said Richard, glancing at the wall, which was about a hundred yards distant from him.

Some person on the other side of the wall had got a good deal nearer by this time; and, dear me, how very much excited he was about Alice Gray.

"But the question," Richard continued, "was how to climb the wall,"—still looking up at the chevaux-de-frise.

"I should have tried muffins," said the lady.

"I should have cut off the water," remarked the gentleman.

"I did neither," said Richard; "I tried a rope."

At this very moment, by some invisible agency, a thickly knotted rope was thrown across the chevaux-de-frise, and the end fell within about four feet of the ground.

"But her heart it is another's, and it never can be mine."

The gentleman who couldn't succeed in winning the affections of Miss Gray was evidently close to the wall now.

In a much shorter time than the very greatest master in the art of stenography could possibly have reported the occurrence, Richard threw the Emperor of the Waterworks half-a-dozen yards from him, with such violence as to cause that gentleman to trip-up the heels of the only daughter of the Pope, and fall in a heap upon that lady as on a feather bed; and then, with the activity of a cat or a sailor, clambered up the rope, and disappeared over the chevaux-de-frise.

The gentleman outside was now growing indifferent to the loss of Miss Gray, for he whistled the melody in a most triumphant manner, keeping time with the sharp plash of his oars in the water.

It took the Emperor and his female friend some little time to recover from the effects of the concussion they had experienced, each from each; and when they had done so, they stood for a few moments looking at one another in mute amazement.

"The gentleman has left the establishment," at last said the lady.