ach should stamp his fate with his own impress, had its attractions,
there was also much that fascinated in the heroism that bound men to a
losing cause, and held them faithful and true where so many fell off
in defection. Perhaps it was the personal character of the men
who professed these opinions ultimately decided his choice; for
D'Allonville, Caumartin, and Lessieux, who then lived at Coblentz, gave
to these sentiments all the glowing ardour of a high and noble chivalry.
Nor was it without a certain charm for a young mind to see himself, as
it were, a participator and agent in the cause of great events. By
zeal to encounter any difficulty, readiness to go anywhere, or dare any
peril, Fitzgerald had won the esteem and confidence of men high in the
exiled Prince's favour. They grew to talk with him and confide in him,
showing him private letters from exalted personages, and even at times
to take his counsel in affairs which required prompt action. Young,
active, able to endure fatigue without inconvenience, he offered himself
for every charge where such qualities might be available; and thus he
traversed Europe, from Hamburg to Italy, from the Rhine to the Vistula,
bearing despatches, or as often himself charged with some special
communication too delicate to commit to writing, and wherein his tact
was intrusted with the details.

At last it was deemed essential to have a number of agents in France
itself--men capable of watching and recording the changes of public
opinion, who might note the rising discontents of the popular mind,
and observe where they had their source. It was a rooted faith in the
Royalist party that sooner or later the nation would react against the
terrible doctrines of the anarchists, and welcome back to France the men
whose very names and titles were part of her glory: the mistake was in
supposing that the time for this reaction was at hand, and in believing
that every passing shadow was its herald.

Gerald's personal courage, his adroitness in the use of disguise, his
unfailing resources in every difficulty, pointed him out as one well
adapted for this employ; and he was constantly intrusted with secret
missions to this or that part of France, occasions on which he as
invariably distinguished himself by his capacity. The very isolation in
which he stood, without family or connections, favoured him, removing
him from the sphere of those jealousies which oftentimes marred and
defeated the wise