The Companions of Jehu, Alexandre Dumas [romance book recommendations TXT] 📗

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMPANIONS OF JEHU *** Produced by Robert J. Hall, and David Widger

THE COMPANIONS OF JEHU By Alexandre Dumas, père

CONTENTS
AN INTRODUCTORY WORD TO THE READER

PROLOGUE. THE CITY OF AVIGNON
CHAPTER I. A TABLE D’HÔTE
CHAPTER II. AN ITALIAN PROVERB
CHAPTER III. THE ENGLISHMAN
CHAPTER IV. THE DUEL
CHAPTER V. ROLAND
CHAPTER VI. MORGAN
CHAPTER VII. THE CHARTREUSE OF SEILLON
CHAPTER VIII. HOW THE MONEY OF THE DIRECTORY WAS USED
CHAPTER IX. ROMEO AND JULIET
CHAPTER X. THE FAMILY OF ROLAND
CHAPTER XI. CHÂTEAU DES NOIRES-FONTAINES
CHAPTER XII. PROVINCIAL PLEASURES
CHAPTER XIII. THE WILD-BOAR
CHAPTER XIV. AN UNPLEASANT COMMISSION
CHAPTER XV. THE STRONG-MINDED MAN
CHAPTER XVI. THE GHOST
CHAPTER XVII. INVESTIGATIONS
CHAPTER XVIII. THE TRIAL
CHAPTER XIX. THE LITTLE HOUSE IN THE RUE DE LA VICTOIRE
CHAPTER XX. THE GUESTS OF GENERAL BONAPARTE
CHAPTER XXI. THE SCHEDULE OF THE DIRECTORY
CHAPTER XXII. THE OUTLINE OF A DECREE
CHAPTER XXIII. ALEA JACTA EST
CHAPTER XXIV. THE EIGHTEENTH BRUMAIRE
CHAPTER XXV. AN IMPORTANT COMMUNICATION
CHAPTER XXVI. THE BALL OF THE VICTIMS
CHAPTER XXVII. THE BEAR’S SKIN
CHAPTER XXVIII. FAMILY MATTERS
CHAPTER XXIX. THE GENEVA DILIGENCE
CHAPTER XXX. CITIZEN FOUCHÉ’S REPORT
CHAPTER XXXI. THE SON OF THE MILLER OF LEGUERNO
CHAPTER XXXII. WHITE AND BLUE
CHAPTER XXXIII. THE LAW OF RETALIATION
CHAPTER XXXIV. THE DIPLOMACY OF GEORGES CADOUDAL
CHAPTER XXXV. A PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE
CHAPTER XXXVI. SCULPTURE AND PAINTING
CHAPTER XXXVII. THE AMBASSADOR
CHAPTER XXXVIII.    THE TWO SIGNALS
CHAPTER XXXIX. THE GROTTO OF CEYZERIAT
CHAPTER XL. A FALSE SCENT
CHAPTER XLI. THE HÔTEL DE LA POSTE
CHAPTER XLII. THE CHAMBÉRY MAIL-COACH
CHAPTER XLIII. LORD GRENVILLE’S REPLY
CHAPTER XLIV. CHANGE OF RESIDENCE
CHAPTER XLV. THE FOLLOWER OF TRAILS
CHAPTER XLVI. AN INSPIRATION
CHAPTER XLVII. A RECONNOISSANCE
CHAPTER XLVIII. IN WHICH MORGAN’S PRESENTIMENTS ARE VERIFIED
CHAPTER XLIX. ROLAND’S REVENGE
CHAPTER L. CADOUDAL AT THE TUILERIES
CHAPTER LI. THE ARMY OF THE RESERVES
CHAPTER LII. THE TRIAL
CHAPTER LIII. IN WHICH AMÉLIE KEEPS HER WORD
CHAPTER LIV. THE CONFESSION
CHAPTER LV. INVULNERABLE
CHAPTER LVI. CONCLUSION

AN INTRODUCTORY WORD TO THE READER

Just about a year ago my old friend, Jules Simon, author of “Devoir,” came to me with a request that I write a novel for the “Journal pour Tous.” I gave him the outline of a novel which I had in mind. The subject pleased him, and the contract was signed on the spot.

The action occurred between 1791 and 1793, and the first chapter opened at Varennes the evening of the king’s arrest.

Only, impatient as was the “Journal pour Tous,” I demanded a fortnight of Jules Simon before beginning my novel. I wished to go to Varennes; I was not acquainted with the locality, and I confess there is one thing I cannot do; I am unable to write a novel or a drama about localities with which I am not familiar.

In order to write “Christine” I went to Fontainebleau; in writing “Henri III.” I went to Blois; for “Les Trois Mousquetaires” I went to Boulogne and Béthune; for “Monte-Cristo” I returned to the Catalans and the Château d’If; for “Isaac Laquedem” I revisited Rome; and I certainly spent more time studying Jerusalem and Corinth from a distance than if I had gone there.

This gives such a character of veracity to all that I write, that the personages whom I create become eventually such integral parts of the places in which I planted them that, as a consequence, many end by believing in their actual existence. There are even some people who claim to have known them.

In this connection, dear readers, I am going to tell you something in confidence—only do not repeat it. I do not wish to injure honest fathers of families who live by this little industry, but if you go to Marseilles you will be shown there the house of Morel on the Cours, the house of Mercédès at the Catalans, and the dungeons of Dantès and Faria at the Château d’If.

When I staged “Monte-Cristo” at the Theâtre-Historique, I wrote to Marseilles for a plan of the Château d’If, which was sent to me. This drawing was for the use of the scene painter. The artist to whom I had recourse forwarded me the desired plan. He even did better than I would have dared ask of him; he wrote beneath it: “View of the Château d’If, from the side where Dantès was thrown into the sea.”

I have learned since that a worthy man, a guide attached to the Château d’If, sells pens made of fish-bone by the Abbé Faria himself.

There is but one unfortunate circumstance concerning this; the fact is, Dantès and the Abbé Faria have never existed save in my imagination; consequently, Dantès could not have been precipitated from the top to the bottom of the Château d’If, nor could the Abbé Faria have made pens. But that is what comes from visiting these localities in person.

Therefore, I wished to visit Varennes before commencing my novel, because the first chapter was to open in that city. Besides, historically, Varennes worried me considerably; the more I perused the historical accounts of Varennes, the less I was able to understand, topographically, the king’s arrest.

I therefore proposed to my young friend, Paul Bocage, that he accompany me to Varennes. I was sure in advance that he would accept. To merely propose such a trip to his picturesque and charming mind was to make him bound from his chair to the tram. We took the railroad to Châlons. There we bargained with a livery-stable keeper, who agreed, for a consideration of ten francs a day, to furnish us with