La Vendee Part 4

"My own Henri--how good you are to your Agatha. I knew you would not torture me with a request that I should marry a man I did not love. I grieve that I interfere with your plans; but I will live with you, and be your old maid sister, and nurse and love your children, and they shall love their old maid aunt."

"There are other men, Agatha, besides Adolphe. Perhaps your next request will be a very different one; perhaps, then, you will be singing the praises of some admirer, and asking me to give him a brother's place in my heart."

"And when I ask it, you will do so; but Henri," and she put her hands upon his shoulder, as she stood close to his chair, "don't let Adolphe come here immediately."

"He must do so, dearest, now I think of it: we have other things to think of besides ladies' hearts, and other matters to plan besides wedding favours; the troops will be in Clisson on Monday next, to collect the conscripts. I have promised to be with de Lescure, and Adolphe is to meet me there; they are both then to come here. Not a man shall be taken who does not choose to go; and there are not many who wish to go from choice. There will be warm work in Poitou next week, Agatha; few of us then can think of love or marriage. You and Marie will be making sword-knots and embroidering flags; that will be your work.

A harder task will soon follow it--that of dressing wounds and staunching blood. We shall have hot work, and more than plenty of it.

May G.o.d send us well through it."

"Amen; with all my heart I say, amen," said Agatha; "but will these poor men resist the soldiers, Henri?"

"Indeed they will, Agatha."

"But can they? They have not arms, nor practice in the way of fighting--they have no leaders."

"We will take arms from our enemies. We will be apt scholars in fighting for our wives, and our sisters, and our houses. As for leaders, the man who is most fit shall lead the others."

"And you, Henri--merciful Heaven! what are you about to do--will you take up arms against the whole republic?"

"With G.o.d's blessing I will--against the whole republic."

"May the Lord, in his mercy, look on you and give you his a.s.sistance; and as your cause is just and holy, He will do so. Whatever women can do, we will do; you shall have our prayers for your success our tears for your reverses, and our praises for your courage; and when you require it, as some of you will too soon, our tenderest care in your sufferings." At this moment Marie de Lescure entered the room. "Marie,"

continued Agatha, "you will help to succour those who are wounded in fighting for their King?"

"Indeed, and indeed I will," said the bright-eyed girl, eagerly, "and regret only that I cannot do more; that I cannot myself be in the battle. But, M. Larochejaquelin, will the people rise? will there really be fighting? will Charles be there?"

"Indeed he will, Marie; the first among the foremost. Agatha asked me but now, who would be our leaders? Is there a man in the Bocage--aye, in all Poitou, who will not follow Charles de Lescure?"

"May the blessed Saviour watch over him and protect him," said Marie, shuddering.

"But tell me, Henri;" said Agatha, "where will it commence--where will they first resist the troops?"

"I cannot say exactly," said he, "in many places at once I hope. In St.

Florent, they say, not a man will join; in Clisson and Torfou they begin on Monday. Charles, and I, and Adolphe will be in Clisson. Father Jerome has the whole lists; he says that in St. Laud's, in Echanbroignes, and Clisson, they are ready, to a man, to oppose the troops: he will go with me to Clisson on Sunday afternoon; on Monday, with G.o.d's will, we will be in the thick of it."

"And will Father Jerome be there, among the soldiers?" said Marie.

"Why not," said Henri, "will the peasants fight worse when they see their priest before them?"

"And if he should fall?"

"He will fail in the service of his G.o.d and his King; Father Jerome will be here himself tomorrow."

"The Cure of St Laud's," said Agatha, "is not the man to sit idle, when good work is to be done, but, oh! what awful times are these, when the priests themselves have to go out to fight for their altars and their crucifix."

"I will return home with you, M Larochejaquelin, when you go to Clisson," said Marie.

"And leave Agatha alone?" said Henri

"Don't mind me, Henri," said Agatha, "I shall be well here. Marie cannot leave Madame de Lescure alone, when her husband is, away and in such danger."

"You will soon have company here enough," said Henri. "De Lescure, and I, and Adolphe, and Heaven knows whom besides. Charette will be in arms, and d'Autachamps, the Prince de Talmont, and M. Bonchamps. At present their business is at a distance from us; but we shall probably be all brought together sooner or later, and they will all be welcome at Durbelliere."

"They shall be welcome if they are friends of yours, and friends of the King; but come, Marie, it is late, let us go to bed; next week, perhaps, we shall be wanting rest, and unable to take it."

They met the next morning at breakfast, and the old Marquis was there also, and the priest, to whom they had alluded in their conversation on the preceding evening--Father Jerome, the Cure of St. Laud's--such at least had he been, and so was he still called, though his parish had been taken away from him, and his place filled by a const.i.tutional pastor; that is, by a priest who had taken the oath to the Const.i.tution, required by the National a.s.sembly Father Jerome was banished from his church, and deprived of the small emoluments of his office; but he was not silenced, for he still continued to perform the ceremonies of his religion, sometimes in some gentleman's drawing-room, sometimes in a farmer's house, or a peasant's cottage, but oftener out in the open air, under the shadow of a spreading beech, on a rude altar hastily built for him with rocks and stones.

The church of St Laud's was perfectly deserted--not a single person would attend there to hear ma.s.s said by the strange priest--the peasants would as soon have been present at some infernal rite, avowedly celebrated in honour of the devil--and yet the Cure newly sent there was not a bad man But he was a const.i.tutional priest, and that was enough to recommend him to the ill-will of the peasantry In peaceable and happy times, prior to the revolution, the Cure of St Laud's had been a remarkable person, he was a man of more activity, both of mind and body, than his brethren, he was more intimate with the gentry than the generality of clergymen in the neighbourhood, and at the same time more actively engaged in promoting the welfare of the poor. The country cures generally were men who knew little of the world and its ways--who were uneducated, save as regards their own profession--who had few ideas beyond their own duties and station, This was not so with Father Jerome; he had travelled and heard the ways of men in other countries; he had not read much but he had seen a good deal, and he was a man of quick apprehension--and above all a man of much energy. He had expressed great hostility to the revolution since its commencement; at a time when so few were hostile to it, he had foreseen that it would destroy the religion and the religious feeling of the country, and he had constantly besought his flock to remain true to their old customs. He was certainly a devout man in his own way, though he was somewhat unscrupulous in his devotions; the people were as superst.i.tious as they were faithful, and he never hesitated in using their superst.i.tion to forward his own views.

His whole anxiety was for their welfare; but he cherished their very faults, their ignorance and their follies, to enable himself to serve them in his own manner. He was unwilling that they should receive other education than that which they now had--he was jealous of any one's interfering with them but their landlord and himself. He would not own that any change: could better their condition, or that anything more was desirable for them than that they should live contented and obedient, and die faithful in hope.

Durbelliere had not been in his parish, but he had always been peculiarly intimate with the family of the Larochejaquelins, and had warmly welcomed the return of Henri to the Bocage, at a time when so many of the n.o.bility were leaving the country. They were now about to join hand and heart in saving the people from the horrors of the conscription, and though the Cure's nominal mission was to be purely spiritual, he was quite prepared to give temporal aid to his allies, should it at any time appear expedient to himself to do so.

Father Jerome was a tall, well-made, brawny man; his face was not exactly handsome, but it was bold and intellectual; his eye was bright and clear, and his forehead high and open--he was a man of immense muscular power and capable of great physical exertion--he was above forty-five years of age but still apparently in the prime of his strength. He wore a long rusty black, or rather grey cure's frock, which fell from his shoulders down to his heels, and was fastened round his body with a black belt--this garment was much the worse for wear, for Father Jerome had now been deprived of his income for some twelve months; but he was no whit ashamed of his threadbare coat, he rather gloried in it, and could not be induced by the liberal offers of his more wealthy friends to lay it aside.

Father Jerome greeted them all as he entered the breakfast-room. He was received with great kindness by the old Marquis, who pressed his hand and made him sit beside himself; he blessed the two young girls fervently, and nodded affectionately to Henri, whom he had seen on the preceding day. It was evident that the Cure of St. Laud's was quite at home at Durbelliere.

"We have awful times coming on us now, Father Jerome," said Agatha.

"Not so, Mademoiselle," said the priest, "we have good times coming, we will have a King and our Church again, we poor cure will have our homes and our altars again; our own parishes and our old flocks."

"Come what, come may," said Henri, "we cannot be worse than the Convention would make us."

"But we firmly trust that by G.o.d's will and with G.o.d's aid, we will soon be rid of all our troubles," said the priest. "M le Marquis, we have your best wishes, I know; and your full approval. I hope we shall soon be able to lay our trophies at your feet."

"The approval of an old man like me is but of little avail; but you shall have my prayers. I would, however, that G.o.d had spared me from these days; it is grievous for me to see my son going out to fight against his own countrymen, at his own door-sill; it would be more grievous still, where he now to hesitate in doing so."

"No true son of Poitou hesitates now," said the enthusiastic priest.

"I yesterday saw every conscript in the parish of St. Laud's, and not a single man hesitated--not one dreams of joining the republicans; and, moreover, there is not an able-bodied man who will not come forward to a.s.sist the conscripts in withstanding the soldiers; the women, too, Mademoiselle, are equally eager. Barere will find it difficult, I think, to raise a troop from Poitou."

"Will the conscripts from hence be required to join at Chatillon or at Cholet?" said the old man.

"Those from St. Laud's, at Chatillon," said Henri; "but the men will not leave their homes, they will know how to receive the soldiers if they come amongst them."

So saying, he got up and went out, and the priest followed him; they had much to do, and many things to arrange; to distribute arms and gunpowder, and make the most of their little means. It was not their present intention to lead the men from their homes, but they wished to prepare them to receive the republican troops, when they came into the country to enforce the collection of the republican levy.

CHAPTER IV.

CATHELINEAU.

The revolt of St. Florent took place on the day after that on which the priest had breakfasted at Durbelliere, and the rumours of it went quickly through the country. As Cathelineau had said, the news was soon known in Nantes and Angers, and the commander of the republican troops determined most thoroughly to avenge the insolence and rebellion of the vain people of St. Florent. He was not, however, able to accomplish his threat on the instant, for he also was collecting conscripts in the neighbourhood of Nantes, and the peasantry had heard of the doings of St. Florent as well as the soldiers, and the men of Brittany seemed inclined to follow the example of the men of Anjou.

He had, therefore, for a time enough to occupy his own troops, without destroying the rebels of St. Florent--and it was well for St. Florent that it was so. Had he at once marched five hundred men, with four pieces of cannon against the town, he might have reduced the place to ashes, and taken a b.l.o.o.d.y revenge for their victory The men of St Florent would have had no means of opposing such a force, and the peasantry generally were not armed, the tactics of the royalists were not settled, and the revolt through the province was not general. The destruction of St Florent was postponed for a month, and at the expiration of that time, the troops of the republic had too much to do, to return to the little town where the war had commenced.

The rumour of what had been done at St. Florent, was also soon known in Coron, in Torfou, and in Clisson. The battle was fought on Thursday, and early on Sat.u.r.day morning, M. de Lescure had heard some indistinct rumour of the occurrence; indistinct at least it seemed to him, for he could not believe that the success of the townspeople was so complete, as it was represented to him to be; he heard at the same time that the revolt had been headed by Cathelineau and Foret, and that as soon as the battle was over, they had started for Durbelliere to engage the a.s.sistance of Henri Larochejaquelin. De Lescure, therefore, determined to go at once to Durbelliere; and Adolphe Denot, who was with him, accompanied him.

They found Henri in the midst of his preparations, weighing out gunpowder with the a.s.sistance of the priest and the two girls. There was a large quarry on the Marquis' estate, and a considerable supply of gunpowder for blasting had been lately brought to Durbelliere from Nantes, as it could not be purchased in the neighbouring towns. As the priest remarked, blasting powder was not the best, but it was good enough to treat republicans with--at any rate they could get no better, and it was lucky that they chanced to have that.