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"Citizen Carrier," he said with calm determination, "on my oath there is no cause for alarm. Your life is absolutely safe...I entreat you to return to your lodgings..."
To emphasize his words he had stretched out a hand and firmly grasped the proconsul's coat sleeve. This gesture, however, instead of pacifying the apparently terror-stricken maniac, seemed to have the effect of further exasperating his insensate fear. With a loud oath he tore himself free from Chauvelin's grasp.
"Ten thousand devils," he cried hoarsely, "who is this fool who dares to interfere with me? Stand aside man...stand aside or..."
And before Chauvelin could utter another word or Martin-Roget come to his colleague's rescue, there came the sudden sharp report of a pistol; the horses reared, the crowd was scattered in every direction, Chauvelin was knocked over by a smart blow on the head whilst a vigorous drag on his shoulder alone saved him from falling under the wheels of the coach.
Whilst confusion was at its highest, the carriage door was closed to with a bang and there was a loud, commanding cry hurled through the window at the coachman on his box.
"En avant, Citizen Coachman! Drive for your life! through the Savenay gate. The English assassins are on our heels."
The postilion cracked his whip. The horses, maddened by the report, by the pushing, jostling crowd and the confused cries and screams around, plunged forward, wild with excitement. Their hoofs clattered on the hard road. Some of the crowd ran after the coach across the Place, shouting lustily: "The Proconsul! the Proconsul!"
Chauvelin--dazed and bruised--was picked up by Martin-Roget.
"The cowardly brute!" was all that he said between his teeth, "he shall rue this outrage as soon as I can give my mind to his affairs. In the meanwhile..."
Chauvelin, supported by Martin-Roget, was hobbling back across the Place. The crowd was still standing about, vaguely wondering why it had got so excited over the departure of the proconsul and the rattle of a coach and pair across the bridge, when on the island there was still an assassin at large--an English spy, the capture of whom would be one of the great events in the chronicles of the city of Nantes.
Я, кстати, тут подумываю: интересно, фигурировал ли гражданин в... порочного толку сюжетах в рамках воображения Орци?
Не секрет ведь, да, что писатель такой писатель, он может на бумаге и не изложить, а сам-то любит подсмотреть за героями) Что баронет - мужчина ее аристократической мечты, а Маргерит - она сама, это понятно, но раз уж она не бросала Шовлена все 11 книг, значит, он ее привлекает чем-то и помимо коварного моска?)