Explore "The Story of Viteau" by Frank R. Stockton on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
THE news of the occupation of Viteau by a band of robbers, occasioned, as well might be supposed, the greatest astonishment at the castle of Barran. At first, every one, from the Lord of the castle to the lowest varlet, was loud in favor of an immediate march upon the scoundrels, with all the force that could be gathered together on the domain. But after Barran had held a consultation with the Countess, Hugo de Lannes, and the very sensible and prudent Bernard, he determined not to be too hasty in this important matter.
If the story of the squire who had been sent to Viteau was true,-and there was no reason to doubt it,-it would require every fighting man on the estates of the Count de Barran to make up a force sufficiently strong to compel the _cotereaux_ to leave the chateau; and if this force should not be large enough to completely surround and invest the place, the captain of the robbers might make good his threat of burning the chateau and retreating to the forest, which he could probably reach in safety, if the retreat should be made in the night.