unselfish; Enghien was
ready to sacrifice anything or everything for his own glory or interest.
At present, surrounded as he was by young nobles as eager to fight as
he was himself, and backed by Gassion, one of the most able and
enterprising soldiers of the day, he declared that he had come to
fight and would do so. Even had l'Hopital known the news that had been
received by Enghien, he would have been powerless to check or control
him. A courier had indeed the day before brought the young duke a
despatch containing the news of the king's death and peremptory orders
not to fight. Enghien simply put the letter in his pocket, and the
contents were known only to Gassion and a few of his most intimate
friends.

De Malo was as anxious to bring on a general engagement as was his fiery
opponent. He was kept well informed of what was going on in Paris,
and knew that the king's death was imminent. His position on a plain,
surrounded on all sides by woods and marshes with but one approach,
and that through a narrow defile, was practically impregnable; and by
occupying the defile he could have kept the French at bay without
the slightest difficulty until Rocroi surrendered. He knew, too, that
General Beck with a considerable force was hastening to join him; but
he feared that prudent counsels might at the last moment prevail in the
French camp, or that the news of the king's death might reach them, and
he therefore left the defile open and allowed the French army to gain
the plain and form up in order of battle facing him, without offering
the slightest opposition or firing a single gun.

It was late in the afternoon by the time the French were in position,
and as both commanders were anxious that the battle should be a
decisive one neither took any step to bring on the fight, but contented
themselves with preparing for the encounter next morning. The night was
cold and somewhat thick, and the positions of the two armies were marked
by lines of fire. The march had been a long and fatiguing one, and
silence soon fell upon the scene. Enghien wrapped himself in his cloak,
and, lying down by a watch fire, was speedily asleep, wholly unoppressed
by the tremendous responsibilities that he had assumed, or the fact
that he had risked the destinies of France for the sake of his personal
ambition, and that in any case the slaughter that must ensue in the
morning would be terrible. Gassion, however, with a few of the older
officers, sat f