nd as
soon as we reach the admiral's vessel they shall be yours." The sailors
bent themselves to their oars, and the boat bounded over the crest
of the waves. The interest taken in this hazardous expedition was
universal; the whole population of Havre hurried towards the jetties and
every look was directed towards the little bark; at one moment it
flew suspended on the crest of the foaming waves, then suddenly glided
downwards towards the bottom of a raging abyss, where it seemed utterly
lost. At the expiration of an hour's struggling with the waves, it
reached the spot where the admiral's vessel was anchored, and from the
side of which two boats had already been dispatched towards their aid.
Upon the quarter-deck of the flagship, sheltered by a canopy of velvet
and ermine, which was suspended by stout supports, Henrietta, the
queen dowager, and the young princess--with the admiral, the Duke of
Norfolk--standing beside them--watched with alarm this slender bark, at
one moment tossed to the heavens, and the next buried beneath the
waves, and against whose dark sail the noble figures of the two French
gentlemen stood forth in relief like two luminous apparitions. The crew,
leaning against the bulwarks and clinging to the shrouds, cheered the
courage of the two daring young men, the skill of the pilot, and the
strength of the sailors. They were received at the side of the vessel
by a shout of triumph. The Duke of Norfolk, a handsome young man, from
twenty-six to twenty-eight years of age, advanced to meet them. De
Guiche and Bragelonne lightly mounted the ladder on the starboard side,
and conducted by the Duke of Norfolk, who resumed his place near them,
they approached to offer their homage to the princesses. Respect, and
yet more, a certain apprehension, for which he could not account,
had hitherto restrained the Comte de Guiche from looking at Madame
attentively, who, however, had observed him immediately, and had asked
her mother, "Is not that Monsieur in the boat yonder?" Madame Henrietta
who knew Monsieur better than her daughter did, smiled at the mistake
her vanity had led her into, and had answered, "No; it is only M. de
Guiche, his favorite." The princess, at this reply, was constrained to
check an instinctive tenderness of feeling which the courage displayed
by the count had awakened. At the very moment the princess had put this
question to her mother, De Guiche had, at last, summoned courage to
raise his eyes to