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