e force, which had by no means
been looked for in so young an officer, although his courage and his
conduct were both well known, he had succeeded in giving a bloody
repulse to the over-whelming masses of the enemy, and when at length
he was supported--doubtless when support was deemed too late to avail
him aught--by a few hundred native horse and a few guns, he had
converted that check into a total and disastrous route.

So palpable was the case, that although Raoul suspected nothing of the
reasons which had led to that disgraceful affair, he had demanded an
inquiry into the conduct of his superior; and that unfortunate
personage being clearly convicted of unmilitary conduct, and having
failed in the end which would have justified the means in the eyes of
the voluptuous tyrant, was ruthlessly abandoned to his fate, and
actually died on the scaffold with a gag in his mouth, as did the
gallant Lally a few years afterward, to prevent his revelation of the
orders which he had received, and for obeying which he perished.

All this, though strange and even extraordinary, had failed up to this
moment to awaken any suspicion of undue or treasonable agency in the
mind of Raoul.

But now as his uncle spoke the scales fell from his eyes, and he saw
all the baseness, all the villany of the monarch and his satellites in
its true light.

"Is it so? Is it, indeed, so?" he said mournfully. And it really
appeared that grief at detecting such a dereliction on the part of his
king, had a greater share in the feelings of the noble youth than
indignation or resentment. "Is it, indeed, so?" he said, "and could
neither my father's long and glorious services, nor my poor conduct
avail aught to turn him from such infamy! But tell me," he continued,
the blood now mounting fiery red to his pale face, "tell me this,
uncle, is she true to me? Is she pure and good? Forgive me, Heaven,
that I doubt her, but in such a mass of infamy where may a man look
for faith or virtue? Is Melanie true to me, or is she, too, consenting
to this scheme of infamous and loathsome guilt?"

"She was true, my son, when I last saw her," replied the good
clergyman, "and you may well believe that I spared no argument to urge
her to hold fast to her loyalty and faith, and she vowed then by all
that was most dear and holy that nothing should induce her ever to
become the wife of Rochederrien. But they carried her off into the
province, and have immured her, I have hear