Those plans involved some change
of residence, no doubt. He would take his wife away from Paris; punish
her by swift banishment from that brilliant city; bury her alive at Arden
Court, and watch her with the eyes of a lynx for the rest of his life.
"Let him watch you never so closely, or shut you in what prison he may, I
will find a door of escape for you, my darling," he said to himself.
The mistress and maid were busy meanwhile, making arrangements for a sudden
flight. There was very little packing to be done; for they could take
nothing, or scarcely anything, with them. The great difficulty would be, to
get the child out of the house. After a good deal of deliberation they
had decided the manner in which their attempt was to be made. It was dusk
between five and six; and at dusk Jane was to go to the nursery, and in the
most innocent manner possible, carry off the boy for half-an-hour's play in
his mother's dressing-room. It was, fortunately, a usual thing for Clarissa
to have him with her at this time, when she happened to be at home so
early. There was a dingy servants' staircase leading from the corridor to
the ground-floor; and down this they were to make their escape unobserved,
the child bundled up in a shawl, Jane Target having slipped out beforehand
and hired a carriage, which was to wait for them a little way off in a
side-street. There was a train leaving Paris at seven, which would take
them to Amiens, where they could sleep that night, and go on to Brussels in
the morning.
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