"Things are getting more and more serious, Patsey," said Jean one
evening. "I don't know what will come of it. The excitement is
spreading here, and there can be no doubt that there will be very
serious troubles, ere long. The greater portion of the people here
are with the Assembly, and approve of all these decrees against the
priests, and the persecution of the better classes. You know what
has taken place in Paris, and I fear that it will be repeated here.
"We are split up. My father, dear good man, thinks that he has only
to attend to his business, and to express no opinion whatever about
public affairs, and that the storm will pass quietly over his head.
My brother has thrown himself heart and soul--that is to say, as
far as he has a heart to throw--into what he calls the cause of the
people; and which I consider to be the cause of revolution, of
confiscation, of irreligion, and abomination generally.
"I am told that my name has freely been mentioned, in his club, as
that of a dangerous man, with opinions contrary to the public good.
I hear, too, that that brother of mine was there, at the time; and
that he got up and said that in a case like this his voice must be
silent, that true patriots place their country before all things;
and then affected to speak mildly in my favour, but at the same
time doing me as much harm as he could. I believe the fellow is
capable of denouncing his own father.
"From the Bocage I hear that the whole country is in confusion. The
people, of course, side with their priests. The nobles and land
owners are naturally royalists, and are furious that the king
should be held in what is practically subjection; by men of low
degree, and who, although they may have some virtuous men among
them, have also sanguinary scoundrels who gradually gain in power,
and will soon be supreme.
"They, however, can do nothing at present. The peasants know
nothing about the king, to them he is a mere name; but this
persecution of their priests angers them greatly; and if, as is
said, orders have been given to raise an army, and to drag men away
from their homes whether they like to go or not, you may be sure
that, ere long, there will be trouble there.
"Now you see, dear, I am a sort of double character. At sea I am
Captain Jean Martin, a peaceful trader with, as you know, but
little regard for the revenue laws of your country. On the other
hand, in La Vendee I am Monsieur Jean Martin, a landed proprietor,
and on friendly terms with all the nobles and gentry in my
neighbourhood. It is evident that I cannot continue to play this
double part. Already great numbers of arrests have been made here,
and the prisons are half full. I hear that a commissioner from the
Assembly is expected here shortly, to try these suspects, as they
are called; and from what we know already, we may be sure that
there will be little mercy shown.
"They are almost all people of substance; and the people, as they
call themselves, are on principle opposed to men of substance. Now,
if I remain here, I have no doubt that I shall be denounced in a
very short time; and to be denounced is to be thrown into prison,
and to be thrown into prison is equivalent to being murdered. I
have no doubt, Patsey, that you would share my fate. The fact that
you are an Englishwoman was among the accusations brought against
me, in the club; and although, so far as I can see, the majority of
these scoundrels have no religion whatever, they venture to make it
a matter of complaint that you are a Protestant.
"I have seen this coming on for some time, and must now make my
choice; either I must take you and the child over to England, and
leave you there with your father until these troubles are over,
while I must myself go down and look after my tenantry, and bear my
share in whatever comes; or you must go down there with me."
"Certainly I will go down with you, Jean. It is your home, and
whatever dangers may come I will share them with you. It would be
agony to be in England, and to know nothing of what is passing
here, and what danger might be threatening you. We took each other
for better or worse, Jean, and the greater danger you may be in,
the more it will be my duty to be by your side.
"I should be very happy down at the chateau. More happy than I have
been here with you, for some time past; for one cannot but be very
anxious, when one sees one's friends thrown into prison, and knows
that you are opposed to all these things, and that it may be your
turn next. Nothing would persuade me to leave you."
"Very well, wife, so be it. I am sure that there, at least, we
shall be safe. It is only in the towns that these rascals are
dangerous, and in a country like ours there is little fear that the
knaves will venture to interfere, when they see that they are
stirring up a nest of hornets. They have plenty of work to satisfy
even their taste for confiscation and murder, in the large towns.
There is an army gathering, on the frontier, and they will have
their hands full, ere long.
"And now, about Leigh. My brother has always shown a dislike for
him and, as it is certain that he cannot remain here, he must
either return to England or go with us."
"I am sure that he would choose to go with us, Jean. You say
yourself that he talks French like a native now, and although he
has often told me that he would never settle in France--for
naturally he is as horrified as I am with the doings in Paris, and
the other great towns--still I am sure that he would choose to
remain with us, now. You see, he is strong and active, and has made
so many trips with you, that he is almost a sailor. He is within a
few months of sixteen, and of late he has several times said to me
that he would like to go some long voyages, and have some
adventures, before settling down in business, in England, as an
agent of your house."
"I should like to have him with us," Jean said heartily. "In the
first place, he is a lad after my own heart, full of life and go,
and already strong enough to take his own part; in the next place,
although I hope for the best, a man can never say exactly what will
take place. I may be away at times, and should be glad to know that
you had a protector; and if he is willing to go, I shall be more
than willing to have him.
"Then, too, it would be useful to have someone whom one could trust
to carry messages. My idea is that I shall not leave the lugger
here for, if I am denounced, it would certainly be seized. Pierre
Lefaux, my mate, is a shrewd as well as a faithful fellow. I shall
appoint him captain. I shall tell him to leave here, at once, and
employ the lugger in coasting voyages; making Bordeaux his
headquarters, and taking what freights he can get between that town
and Rochelle, Brest, or other ports on this coast. So long as he
does not return here, he might even take wines across to England,
or brandy from Charente. He knows his business well and, as long as
we are at peace with England, trade will still go on.
"The best thing would be for him to be at Bordeaux once every
fortnight, or three weeks, so that we shall know where to find him.
I have a great friend at Bordeaux, and shall get him to have the
lugger registered in his name, and give him a receipt for her
purchase money; so that in case the people here learn that she is
trading at Bordeaux, he will be able to prove that she is his own
property. Then, if the very worst should come, which I cannot bring
myself to believe, there will be a means of escape for us all to
England.
"She will be sailing there in two or three days. I have fifty
thousand francs lying in my father's hands. I shall send that over
by Lefaux, and instruct him to ask your father to go with him to
the bank, at Poole, and pay the money in to my account. Then, if we
should have to leave France, we shall have that to fall back upon,
and the lugger. I should, of course, transfer her to the English
flag, and have no doubt that we should be able to get on very
fairly. So you see, I am preparing for all contingencies, Patsey."
"It seems very dreadful that the country should be in such a state,
Jean."
"It is dreadful, and I am afraid that things have by no means got
to the worst, yet.
"Ah, here comes Leigh! After supper I shall go in and have a talk
with my father. I have very little hope of having much success with
him; but at least, when he sees the steps that I am taking, it
cannot but make him think seriously of his own position, and that
of my mother and sisters."
Leigh was delighted when he heard Jean's proposal. His own position
had been unpleasant, of late. He had long since ceased to go to
Jacques Martin, for the dislike between them was mutual and, do
what he would, he failed to give satisfaction. And of late, even in
Monsieur Martin's cellars and storehouses, he had met with a good
deal of unpleasantness; and would have met with more, had it not
been that he had, on one occasion, knocked down one of the chief
clerks, who had sworn at him for some trifling act of carelessness.
As the clerk knew that the merchant would have been very angry at
the insult he had offered to Leigh, he had not ventured to make a
complaint; but in many ways he had been able to cause numberless
petty annoyances. Many of the others were inclined to follow his
lead, and would have done so more openly, were it not that they
held in respect Leigh's strength, and readiness in the science they
called le boxe.
The talk that there might be troubles in La Vendee heightened his
satisfaction at leaving Nantes, and going down to stay in the
country. The thought of a life spent at Poole, or Weymouth, as a
wine merchant and agent of the house of Martin had, for some time
past, been unpleasant to him. The feeling of general unrest that
prevailed in France had communicated itself to him, and he thought
possibly that something might occur which would change the current
of his life, and lead to one more suited to his natural activity
and energy.
"You had better pack up quietly, tomorrow," Jean said to his wife,
after his return from his father's. "If there were any suspicion
that I was thinking of going away, it might bring matters to a
head. I will get the lugger's boat down to the wharf, and four
sailors shall come up here and take the boxes down, in one of the
hand carts, with a tarpaulin thrown over them. I will arrange for a
cart and a carriage to be waiting for us, on the other side of the
river.
"There is no moving my father. He cannot persuade himself that a
man who takes no part in politics, and goes about his business
quietly, can be in any danger. He has, however, at my mother's
entreaty, agreed for the present to cease buying; and to diminish
his stock as far as possible, and send the money, as fast as he
realizes it, across to England. He says, too, that he will, if
things get worse, send her and my sister to England. I promised him
that your father would find them a house, and see that they were
settled comfortably there, for a time. He would not believe that
Jacques could have been at the club when I was denounced, without
defending me; for although himself greatly opposed to the doings in
Paris, and annoyed at the line Jacques has taken up, he thought
that there was at least this advantage in it--that in case of
troubles coming here, he would have sufficient influence to prevent
our being in any way molested. However, there can be no question
that I have, to some extent, alarmed him; and he agreed not only to
draw, tomorrow, my fifty thousand francs from his caisse, but to
send over with it a hundred thousand francs of his own. Fortunately
he can do this without Jacques knowing anything about it, for
although Jacques and I have both a share in the business, he has
always kept the management of the money matters in his own hands.
"So that is settled, as far as it can be settled. Fortunately the
club does not meet this evening, so there is no fear of a demand
being made, by it, for my arrest tomorrow. I have a friend who
belongs to it--not, I think, because he at all agrees with its
views; but because, like many others, he deems it prudent to appear
to do so. It was from him that I heard what had passed there, and
he promised to give me warning of anything that might be said, or
done, against me. I shall go down to the lugger early, and remain
on board all day, seeing to the stowage of the cargo we are taking
on board, so that no suspicion can arise that I am thinking of
leaving for the country."
The next evening the party started by unfrequented streets for the
quay, the nurse carrying the child, now three months old. The boxes
had gone half an hour before. It was nearly ten o'clock, and the
quays were deserted. Monsieur Martin had himself gone down, in the
afternoon, with the money to the lugger, and handed it over to
Jean, and had a long talk with him and Pierre Lefaux, to whom Jean
had also intrusted letters from himself and Patsey, to the squire.
As soon as the party had taken their seats in the boat, it was
rowed two miles up the river, to a point where there was a ferry
across to a road, leading into the heart of La Vendee. Here a light
waggon and a carriage were waiting. The luggage was transferred to
the former and, after a hearty farewell to Pierre Lefaux, who had
himself come in charge of the boat, they started on their journey;
and arrived at the chateau at nine o'clock in the morning, to the
surprise of the man and woman in charge of it.
"Here we are safe," Jean said, as they alighted from the carriage.
"It would take nothing short of an army to fight its way through
these woods and lanes and, if the Assembly try to interfere with
us, they will find it a much easier thing to pull down the throne
of France, than to subdue La Vendee."
The news that the master had come down, and that he was going for a
time to live among them, spread rapidly; and in the course of the
day some fifteen of the tenants came in to pay their respects, few
of them arriving without some little offering in the way of game,
poultry, butter, or other produce.
"Our larder is full enough for us to stand a siege," Patsey said,
laughing, "and I know that we have a good stock of wine in the
cellar, Jean."
"Yes, and of cider, too. When the tenants are in any difficulty
about paying their rents, I am always willing to take it out in
wine or cider; for my father deals in both, and therefore it is as
good as money. But I have not sent any to Nantes for the past two
or three years and, as you say, the cellars are as full as they can
hold.
"Tomorrow, Leigh, we will ride over and call upon some of our
neighbours to hear the last news, for the Bocage is as far away
from Nantes as if it were on the other side of France, and we hear
only vague rumours of what is going on here."
The ride was a delightful one to Leigh. He had only once visited
the chateau before, and then only for a day or two. The wild
country, with its deep lanes, its thick high hedges, its woods and
copses, was all new to him; for the country round his English home
was, for the most part, bare and open. Some of the peasants carried
guns over their shoulders, and looked as if accustomed to use them.
"Very few of them possess guns," Jean Martin remarked, "and that
they should carry them shows how disturbed a state of mind all
these people are in. They know that their priests may be arrested
and carried off, at any moment; and no doubt the report that an
order has been issued to raise thirty thousand men throughout
France, and that every town and village has to furnish its quota,
has stirred them up even more effectually. I don't suppose that
many of them think that the authorities will really try to drag men
off, against their will; but the possibility is quite enough to
inflame their minds."
At the very first house they visited they received, from the owner,
ample confirmation of Jean's views.
"There have been continual fracases between the peasants and the
military," he said, "over the attempts of the latter to arrest the
priests. They can scarcely be called fights, for it has not come to
that; but as soon as the peasants hear that the gendarmes are
coming, they send the priest into the wood, and gather in such
force that the gendarmes are glad enough to ride away, unharmed. Of
course, until we see that the peasants are really in earnest, and
intend to fight to the last, it would be madness for any of us to
take any part in the matter; for we should be risking not only life
but the fortunes of our families, and maybe their lives, too. You
must remember, moreover, that already a great number of the landed
proprietors have either been murdered or imprisoned in Paris, or
are fugitives beyond the frontier."
"If the peasants would fight," Jean Martin said, "it might not be a
bad thing that there are so few whom they could regard as their
natural leaders. If there are only a few leaders they may act
together harmoniously, or each operate in his own district; but
with a number of men of the same rank, or nearly of the same rank,
each would have his own ideas as to what should be done, and there
would be jealousy and discord."
"That is true," the other replied. "Of course, if this were an open
country it would be necessary, to give us a chance of success, that
some sort of discipline should be established; and none could
persuade the peasants to submit to discipline, except their own
lords. But in a country like this, discipline is of comparatively
little importance; and it is well that it is so, for though I
believe that the peasants would fight to the death, rather than
submit to be dragged away by force from their homes, they will
never keep together for any time."
"I am afraid that that will be the case. We must hope that it will
not come to fighting but, if it does, it will take a large force to
conquer La Vendee."
"What has brought you down here, Monsieur Martin?"
"It was not safe for me to stay longer in Nantes. If I think a
thing I say it, and as I don't think well of what is being done in
Paris, I have not been in the habit of saying flattering things
about the men there. In fact I have been denounced and, as there is
still room for a few more in the prisons, I should have had a cell
placed at my disposal, if I had remained there many more hours; so
I thought that I should be safer, down here, till there was some
change in the state of affairs."
"And you brought madame down with you?"
"Assuredly. I had only the choice open to me of sending her across
to England, and of making my home there, or of coming here. If
there had been no prospect of trouble here, I might have joined the
army of our countrymen who are in exile; but as, from all I heard,
La Vendee was ready to take up arms, I determined to come here;
partly because, had I left the country, my estates here would have
been confiscated; partly because I should like to strike a blow,
myself, at these tyrants of Paris, who seem bent on destroying the
whole of the aristocracy of France, of wiping out the middle
classes, and dividing the land and all else among the scum of the
towns."
Three or four months passed quietly. There were occasional
skirmishes between the peasants, and parties of troops in search of
priests who refused to obey the orders of the Assembly. At Nantes,
the work of carrying out mock trials, and executing those of the
better classes who had been swept into the prisons, went on
steadily. From time to time a message came to Jean, from his
father, saying that he had carried out his determination to lessen
his stocks, and that he had sent considerable sums of money across
the Channel. So far he had not been molested, but he saw that the
public madness was increasing, and the passion for blood ever
growing.
Then came the news of the execution of the king, which sent a
thrill of horror through the loyal province. Shortly afterwards it
was known that the decree for the raising of men was to be
enforced; and that commissioners had already arrived at Saumur with
a considerable force, that would be employed, if necessary; but
that the process of drawing the names of those who were to go was
to be carried out by the local authorities, assisted by the
national guards of the towns.
During the winter things had gone on quietly, at the chateau. There
had been but little visiting, for the terrible events passing in
Paris, and in all the large towns, and the uncertainty about the
future, had cast so deep a gloom over the country that none thought
of pleasure, or even of cheerful intercourse with their neighbours.
Many of the gentry, too, had given up all hope; and had made their
way down to the coast, and succeeded in obtaining a passage in
smuggling craft, or even in fishing boats, to England.
Jean Martin and Leigh had spent much of their time in shooting.
Game was abundant and, as so many of the chateaux were shut up,
they had a wide range of country open to them for sport. Once or
twice they succeeded in bringing home a wild boar. Wolves had
multiplied in the forests for, during the last three years, the
regular hunts in which all the gentry took part had been abandoned,
and the animals had grown fearless.
One day, soon after the news of the king's death had been received,
Jean, who had ridden over to Saumur on business, brought back the
news that war had been declared with England.
"It would have made a good deal of difference to me," he said, "if
I had still been on board the lugger; for of course there would be
an end to all legitimate trade. However, no doubt I should have
managed to run a cargo, sometimes; for they will want brandy and
tobacco all the more, when regular trade is at an end; and prices,
you may be sure, will go up. I have no doubt, too, that there will
be a brisk business in carrying emigrants over. Still, of course
the danger would be very much greater. Hitherto we have only had
the revenue cutters and the coast guards to be afraid of, now every
vessel of war would be an enemy."
As during their expeditions they were generally accompanied by half
a dozen peasants, who acted as beaters, Leigh had come to
understand the patois, and to some extent to speak it; and he often
paid visits to the houses of the principal tenants of the estate,
who not only welcomed him as the brother of their mistress, but
soon came to like him for himself, and were amused by his high
spirits, his readiness to be pleased with everything, and his talk
to them of the little known country across the water.
It was evident, from the manner in which the drawing for the
conscription was spoken of, that it would not be carried out
without a strong resistance. Sunday, the tenth of March, had been
fixed for the drawing and, as the day approached, the peasants
became more and more determined that they would not permit
themselves to be dragged away from their homes.
Three days before, a party of the tenants, together with some from
adjoining estates, had come up to the chateau. Jean Martin at once
came out to them.
"We have come, monsieur, to ask if you will lead us. We are
determined that we will not be carried off like sheep."
"There you are right," Jean said; "but although I shall be ready to
do my share of fighting, I do not wish to be a leader. In the first
place, there are many gentlemen of far larger possessions and of
higher rank than myself, who would naturally be your leaders. There
is the Marquis de Lescure at Clisson, and with him are several
other noble gentlemen, among them Henri de la Rochejaquelein--he is
a cavalry officer. His family have emigrated, but he has remained
here on his estates. Then, too, you have many other military
officers who have served. There is Monsieur de Bonchamp, Monsieur
d'Elbee, and Monsieur Dommaigne, all of whom have served in the
army. If the insurrection becomes general, I shall head my own
tenants, and join the force under some chosen commander; but I
shall not appear as a leader. Not only am I altogether ignorant of
military affairs but, were it known in Nantes that I was prominent
in the rising, they would undoubtedly avenge themselves upon my
relations there."
It was known that artillery and gendarmes had been gathered in all
the towns of La Vendee. Two days before that appointed for the
drawing, Jean said to Leigh:
"I shall ride tomorrow to the castle of Clisson. I know Monsieur de
Lescure. He has wide influence, and is known to be a devoted
royalist, and to have several royalist refugees now at his house. I
shall be able to learn, from him, whether his intention is to take
part in the insurrection. It is a long ride, and I shall not return
until tomorrow.
"If you like, you can ride north to Saint Florent. If there should
be any tumult, I charge you not to take any part in it. You had
better leave your horse at some cabaret on this side of the town,
and go in on foot. It is possible that there will be no trouble
there, for they are sure to have made preparations against it; and
it is more likely that there will be disturbances at smaller
places. Still, it will be interesting to mark the attitude of the
peasants.
"You see, if there is to be a war, it is their war. The gentlemen
here would have fought for the king, had there been a shadow of a
prospect of success, and had he given the smallest encouragement to
his friends to rally to his support. They might even have fought
against the disturbance of the clergy. But they would have had no
followers. The peasants cared but little for the king and, though
they did care enough for the priests to aid them to escape, they
did not care enough to give battle for them. They are now going to
fight for their own cause, and for their own liberty. They have to
show us that they are in earnest about it, before we join them. If
they are in earnest, we ought to be successful. We ought to be able
to put a hundred thousand men in arms and, in such a country as
this, we should be able to defy any force that the Convention can
send against us; and to maintain the right of La Vendee to hold
itself aloof from the doings of the rest of France.
"But, as I said, until we know that they are really in earnest, we
cannot afford to throw in our lot with them; so if you go to Saint
Florent, keep well away from the point where the drawing is to take
place. Watch affairs from a distance. I have little doubt that
those who go will go with the determination of defending
themselves, but whether they will do so will depend upon whether
there is one among them energetic enough to take the lead. That is
always the difficulty in such matters. If there is a fight we must,
as I say, simply watch it. It is, at present, no affair of ours. If
it begins, we shall all have our work before us, plenty of it, and
plenty of danger and excitement, but for the present we have to act
as spectators."
It was a ride of fifteen miles to Saint Florent and, although Leigh
had twice during the winter ridden there with Jean, he had some
difficulty in finding his way through the winding roads and
numerous lanes along which he had to pass. During the early part of
the ride he met with but few people on the way. The church bells
were ringing, as usual, and there was nothing to show that any
trouble was impending; but when he arrived within two or three
miles of the town, he overtook little groups of peasants walking in
that direction. Some of them, he saw, carried pitchforks. The rest
had stout cudgels.
Saint Florent stood on the Loire and, in an open space in the
centre of the town, the authorities were gathered. Behind them was
a force of gendarmes, and in the middle of their line stood a
cannon.
Leigh had, as Jean had told him, left his horse outside the town;
and now took up his place, with a number of townspeople, on one
side of the square. As the peasants arrived, they clustered
together at the end of the street, waiting for the hour to strike
at which the drawing was to begin. A few minutes before the clock
struck, some of the gendarmes left the group in the centre of the
square, and advanced to the peasants. They were headed by an
officer who, as he came up, exclaimed:
"What do you mean by coming here with pitchforks? Lay them down, at
once!"
There was a low murmur among the peasants.
"Follow me!" he said to his men and, walking up to one of the men
carrying a pitchfork, he said:
"I arrest you, in the name of the Republic."
In an instant a young man standing next to the one he had seized
sprang forward, and struck the officer to the ground with his
cudgel.
[Illustration: 'Follow Me!' he shouted. 'Make for the gun!']
"Follow me!" he shouted. "Make for the gun!"
With a cheer the peasants rushed forward, overthrowing the
gendarmes as they went. The municipal authorities, after hesitating
for a moment, took to their heels in the most undignified manner.
The gun had not been loaded. The gendarmes round it, seeing that
they were greatly outnumbered, followed their example; and the
peasants, with exultant shouts, seized the cannon and then,
scattering, chased the gendarmes out of the town.
Never was a more speedy and bloodless victory. Headed by their
leader, whose name was Rene Foret, the peasants went to the
municipality, broke open the doors, took possession of the arms
stored there, collected all the papers they could find, and made a
great bonfire with them in the centre of the square. Then without
harming anyone, or doing the slightest mischief, they left the town
and scattered to their homes in the Bocage.
Leigh waited until all was over, returned to the cabaret where he
had left his horse, and rode on. Passing through the little town of
Pin a powerful-looking man, some thirty-five years old, with a
quiet manner, broad forehead, and intelligent face, stepped up to
him.
"Pardon, monsieur," he said; "but you have come from Saint
Florent?"
"Yes," he replied.
"Has aught happened there?"
"Yes, the peasants attacked the gendarmes, who fled, leaving their
cannon behind them. The peasants took what arms there were in the
municipality, and made a bonfire of the papers. They then, without
doing any damage, dispersed to their homes."
"They have done well," the man said. "They have made a beginning.
My name, monsieur, is Cathelineau; my business, so far, has been
that of a hawker. I am well known in this part of the country.
Maybe, sir, you will hear my name again, for henceforth I am an
insurgent. We have borne this tyranny of the butchers in Paris too
long, and the time has come when we must either free ourselves of
it, or die. You belong to another class, but methinks that when you
see that we are in earnest, you will join."
"I doubt not that we shall," Leigh said. "I am but a lad yet; but I
hope that, when the time comes, I shall do my part."
The man lifted his hat and moved off, and Leigh rode forward again.
He was struck with the earnest manner of the man. He had spoken
calmly and without excitement, expressed himself well, and had the
air of a man who, having determined upon a thing, would carry it
through.
"I expect I shall hear of him again," he said to himself. "A man
like that, travelling round the country, no doubt has a deal of
influence. He is just the sort of man the peasants would follow;
indeed, as it seems to me, that anyone might follow."
It was late in the afternoon when he arrived home, and told his
sister what he had witnessed.
"I am not surprised, Leigh," she said. "If I were a man I would
take up arms, too. There must be an end to what is going on.
Thousands have been murdered in Paris, men and women; and at least
as many more in the other great towns. If this goes on, not only
the nobles and gentry, but the middle class of France will all
disappear; and these bloodstained monsters will, I suppose, set to
to kill each other. I feel half French now, Leigh, and it is almost
too awful to think of.
"It seems to me that the only hope is that the peasants, not only
of the Bocage, but of all Poitou, Anjou, and Brittany, may rise, be
joined by those of other parts, and march upon the towns; destroy
them altogether, and kill all who have been concerned in these
doings."
"That would be pretty sweeping, Patsey," Leigh laughed. "But you
know I hate them as much as you do and, though I don't feel a bit
French, I would certainly do all that I could against them, just as
one would kill wild beasts who go about tearing people to pieces.
It is no odds to me whether the men, women, and children they kill
are French, or English. One wants to put a stop to their killing."
"I wish, now, that I had not brought you out with me, Leigh."
"In the first place, Patsey, I deny altogether that you did bring
me out--Jean brought me out; and in the next place, I don't see why
you should be sorry. I would not miss all this excitement, for
anything. Besides, I have learned to talk French well, and
something of the business of a wine merchant. I can't be taken in
by having common spirit, a year or two old, passed off on me as the
finest from Charente; or a common claret for a choice brand. All
that is useful, even if I do not become a wine merchant. At any
rate, it is more useful than stopping at Netherstock, where I
should have learned nothing except a little more Latin and Greek."
"Yes, but you may be killed, Leigh."
"Well, I suppose if I had stayed at home, and got a commission in
the army or a midshipman's berth in the navy, I might have been
killed and, if I had my choice, I would much rather be killed in
fighting against people who murder women and children, who have
committed no crime whatever, than in fighting soldiers or sailors
of another nation, who may be just as honest fellows as we are.''
"I cannot argue with you, Leigh; but if anything happens to you I
shall blame myself, all my life."
"That would be foolish," Leigh said. "It is funny what foolish
ideas women have. You could not have foreseen what was coming, when
you came over here; and you thought that it would be a good thing
for me to accompany you, for a time. You did what you thought was
best, and which I think was best. Well, if it doesn't turn out just
what we expected, you cannot blame yourself for that. Why, if you
were to ask me to come for a walk, and a tree fell on me as we were
going along and killed me, you would hardly blame yourself because
you asked me to come; and this is just the same.
"At any rate, if I do get killed, which I don't mean to be if I can
help it, there is no one else who will take it very much to heart,
except yourself. There are plenty of them at home and, now that I
have been away nearly two years, they must almost have forgotten my
existence."
"I consider you a very foolish boy," Patsey said, gravely. "You
talk a great deal too much nonsense."
"Very well, Patsey; abuse is not argument, and almost every word
that you have said applies equally well to your folly, in leaving a
comfortable home in a quiet country to come to such a dangerous
place as this.
"Now, I hope that supper is ready, for I am as hungry as a hunter."