le. A few harsh words reached Francine's ear, and after
a word said to her mistress the girl retreated into the embrasure of a
window. Marie rose, turned towards the insolent group, and gave them a
look full of dignity and even disdain. Her beauty, the elegance of her
manners, and her pride changed the behavior of her enemies, and won her
the flattering murmur which escaped their lips. Two or three men, whose
outward appearance seemed to denote the habits of polite society and
the gallantry acquired in courts, came towards her; but her propriety
of demeanor forced them to respect her, and none dared speak to her; so
that, instead of being herself arraigned by the company, it was she who
appeared to judge of them. These chiefs of a war undertaken for God and
the king bore very little resemblance to the portraits her fancy had
drawn of them. The struggle, really great in itself, shrank to mean
proportions as she observed these provincial noblemen, all, with one
or two vigorous exceptions, devoid of significance and virility. Having
made to herself a poem of such heroes, Marie suddenly awakened to the
truth. Their faces expressed to her eyes more a love of scheming than
a love of glory; self-interest had evidently put arms into their hands.
Still, it must be said that these men did become heroic when brought
into action. The loss of her illusions made Mademoiselle de Verneuil
unjust, and prevented her from recognizing the real devotion which
rendered several of these men remarkable. It is true that most of those
now present were commonplace. A few original and marked faces appeared
among them, but even these were belittled by the artificiality and the
etiquette of aristocracy. If Marie generously granted intellect and
perception to the latter, she also discerned in them a total absence of
the simplicity, the grandeur, to which she had been accustomed among
the triumphant men of the Republic. This nocturnal assemblage in the old
ruined castle made her smile; the scene seemed symbolic of the monarchy.
But the thought came to her with delight that the marquis at least
played a noble part among these men, whose only remaining merit in her
eyes was devotion to a lost cause. She pictured her lover's face upon
the background of this company, rejoicing to see it stand forth among
those paltry and puny figures who were but the instruments of his great
designs.

The footsteps of the marquis were heard in the adjoining room. Instantly