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ve dared to propose to me?" said he, darting a look of fiery indignation on him who seemed the leader. "Is it thus you understand my presence in your country and in your cause? Think ye it was for this that I left the glorious army of France,--that I quitted the field of honorable war to mix with such as you? Ay, if it were the last word I were to speak on earth, I 'd denounce you, wretches that stain with blood and massacre the sacred cause the best and boldest bleed for!" The click of a trigger sounded harshly on my ear, and my blood ran cold with horror. De Meudon heard it too, and continued,--"You do but cheat me of an hour or two, and I am ready." He paused, as if waiting for the shot. A deadly silence followed; it lasted for some minutes, when again he spoke,--"I came here to-night not knowing of your intentions, not expecting you; I came here to choose a grave, where, before another week pass over, I hoped to rest. If you will it sooner, I shall not gainsay you." Low murmurs ran through the crowd, and something like a tone of pity could be heard mingling through the voices. "Let him go home, then, in God's name!" said one of the number; "that's the best way." "Ay, take him home," said another, addressing me; "Dan Kelly 's a hard man when he 's roused." The words were repeated on every side, and I led De Meudon forth leaning on my arm; for already, the excitement over, a stupid indifference crept over him, and he walked on by my side without speaking. I confess it was not without trepidation, and many a backward glance towards the old ruin, that I turned homeward to our cabin. There was that in their looks at which I trembled for my companion; nor do I yet know why they spared him at that moment. CHAPTER XI. TOO LATE. The day which followed the events I have mentioned was a sad one to me. The fatigue and the excitement together brought on fever with De Meudon. His head became attacked, and before evening his faculties began to wander. All the strange events of his checkered life were mixed up in his disturbed intellect; and he talked on for hours about Italy, and Egypt, the Tuileries, La Vendee, and Ireland, without ceasing. The entire of the night he never slept, and the next day the symptoms appeared still more aggravated. The features of his insanity were wilder and less controllable. He lost all memory of me; and sometimes the sight of me at his bedside threw him into most terrific paro
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