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 Le 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, Henriette, 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 princess. 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 Henriette, 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