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the city; but long before we reached the barriers, the shouts of the mob were audible, and to our alarm we heard the tocsin ringing from the great Abbey of St. Martin. We hastened our steps, only to discover] on entering the town that a dreadful scene of havoc and devastation was going forward. Above the shouts of the mob screams arose, as if from victims of their barbarity; and now and then there shot up a lurid glare towards the sky, which betokened too plainly that the ravages of fire were to be added that night to those of violence and plunder. Advancing in an easterly direction, we discovered that the ancient Abbey Church of St. Martin, the pride of central France, from whence the tocsin had been sounding, was the principal object of the fury of the mob, probably for that very reason. It was in flames before we arrived there, and we met many wretches escaping with the sacred vessels and ornaments, their share of the spoil. Hurrying our steps towards the Cathedral, we found the mob less numerous and violent in that direction, and although St. Julien was on fire, it was evident that the set of the raging tide was towards St. Martin, and that the quarters in our neighbourhood were emptying themselves of their population, to swell the main flood thereabouts. This process appeared to me, I remember, even in that hurried and anxious moment, to go forward according to an organised system, and as if under the guidance of certain recognised leaders; for I repeatedly heard the words à droit, à gauche, given at the head of these gangs, by voices which they seemed instructed to obey.

The precincts of the palace were completely deserted. Not a sound was to be heard but the distant hubbub of the rioters, and occasionally the distant crash of a roof or tower of one of the burning edifices. When this occurred, we were further notified of the catastrophe by the sudden leap of the towers of the Cathedral out of the darkness, as they were smitten by the red-hot glow from behind us.

With trembling joy we believed all safe; and, stealing cautiously up, descended into the concealed passage leading to our hiding place. Traversingitas quickly as we could in the pitchy darkness, we both of us stopped simultaneously. It was-it must be-a dream. We rubbed our eyes. Where we had

left the chamber we emerged into this open cavern, into which the lurid sky darted its dull glances, and the cries we had left found their way with the vapours and exhalations of the night.

Nobody was there. Nothing was to be seen but ruin. Not a vestige. Not a piece of furniture. Not an article of clothing. Nothing but these huge fragments scattered about, and the desperate marks of wedges and crowbars, and other mechanical means of aiding human fury.

Like lightning, Levasseur darted across my mind. "He is alive!" I shrieked, dashing my hands up towards heaven.-The next moment I had fled out through the aperture into the darkness, leaving the Archbishop motionless where he had first became aware of the catastrophe.

For weeks my existence is a dream. I believe I was mad. Levelled with the beasts, I acquired the keen scent and sagacity of these tribes, when instinct draws them after their prey. I remember myself at Saumur, at Angers, in the forests of Brittany, subsisting upon roots. The slot of my enemy lay towards Nantes. There Carrier was multiplying his human sacrifices. Blood was too slow in flowing. The river offered more speedy execution, and a roomier grave. Shoals of victiins choked the channels of the Loire, and turned its waters into putridity. There were people about, here and there, who could afford some inklings. Kennelling as I did with the wolves, with them I made nightly descents upon habitable places, and the abodes of men. As these bore away lambs and other weaklings of the flock, so I fragments of intelligence, whispers, hearsays, eavesdroppings, and vague surmises of the bloodshot stranger, who was urging some females westward. I saw whither all this was tending. Hope had left my bosom; I scarcely cared to accomplish a rescue ; and dared not think upon anything but revenge. To enter Nantes was certain death, and death would frustrate all my objects, and crown his with triumph, so I reserved myself for the consummation.

I joined the remnant of the Vendeans, wandering houselessly through Brittany, and prowling about since the battle of Savenay in bands of fifties and hundreds, with every man's hand against them. For such I was a fit companion. They armed me; I

clasped my sword like a friend who was to do me a service. Thenceforth it was my closest companion.

Daring as were these Chouans, they found in me one whom they could not hope to rival. The gang I led gained a name for its desperate audacity, and carried Terror even to the gates of Nantes, within which unhappy town likewise that fearful Presence now stalked abroad in visible shape, and daily devoured its victims wholesale. The river, which had flowed past the walls ever since they were built bearing blessings on its bosom and reflecting heaven on its surface, now yawned like a judgment close at hand, and into its depths continually travelled the youth and bravery and beauty and virtue and loyalty of Nantes. We, when we were caught, were shot; but it was not easy to catch us, and we generally obtained more than life for life.

It was the spring equinox. Carrier's noyades went on; it was now whole ship-loads of victims that he sent down the stream, to be sunk bodily at its mouth, where he believed the ocean would do the rest, and rid him of further trouble. But ocean itself began to show symptoms of refusing to dispose of more dead than lay to its own account. It had enough to answer for already. Renouncing complicity in these deeds of earth, it at last took advantage of a mighty west wind and cast the unburied mass of mortality at the mouth of the stream that had rejected it. The whole population flocked down to discover and reclaim its dead. What it found it had to dispute with the ospreys and vultures, and the loathsome familiarity of wild beasts, which struggled between the legs of the human throng, in the absorbing fascination of such a banquet.

And like a fascinated wild beast there am I. The storm howls across the bleak sands, carrying the grains along like a mist, mingled with the surf and foam-flakes. And the blast as it howls, bears other sounds upon it-shrieks of sea-mews, and of mothers and daughters of stranded corpses, croakings of quarrelling ravens, and the imprecations of desperate outlaws, who dispute the bones of a comrade. There I stand, looking seawards, for I know that ocean has an account to render up to me, and that it will fulfil its trust. And it is without shuddering, therefore, that I find at my

feet a thing of human outline, having mark and token which may be recognised, such as a ribbon with a golden ornament attached, and on the ornament the words inscribed

La tete tombe, le cœur reste.

Yes, boy, I am prepared for all that; and with my sword I dig a hole in the sand, high up, above the reach of the tides, and there I cover up that human remnant, after placing the ornament in my bosom, then, having taken the bearings, I plunge into the woods again, and whet my blunted sword against the first smooth stone I find.

One object was left me in life. It wore a definite aspect; but the means of obtaining it were difficult and circuitous. For many a month I herded with the Chouans of Bretagne; a wild, irregular banditti. The gang I led hovered closer to the enemy than the rest of our adherents, and addicted themselves less to plunder. Something which might be called strategy marked our movements, and the information we acquired from prisoners was frequently of considerable service to the cause of the Royalists in communication with Puisaye and the British Government.

Since the discovery of the body my character had undergone a change. I was no longer the reckless madman who inspired respect only by his personal daring. My mind now controlled without impeding the impetuosity of my animal nature. In particular, a certain tact and subtlety I evinced in the examination of prisoners and deserters, caused that department at last to be left exclusively to me; and it was during this period that I perfected and brought to the condition of a system, that theory of the investigation of character, which I put in practice on my first encountering you.

Ever and anon, I was able to glean some intelligence respecting my enemy. He was near me. When Carrier was superseded at Nantes, he was for a time in disgrace as his friend; but soon associated himself with Hoche, and distinguished himself, one deserter informed me, by the sanguinary zeal he showed in prosecuting the design of his chief, which consisted, as in La Vendée, in hemming in the remnant of the insurgents by a narrowing cordon, out of which they had no possible escape, and within which, unless some

sudden blow was struck, they must be all finally enveloped and taken. With a counter-instinct to mine, he, too, I felt, knew that the man he had wronged was here, and that he must be got rid of to make life safe. This was what infused such uncompromising ferocity into his conduct, and gave his acts so sanguinary a complexion, as to call more than once for a reprimand and rebuke from his chief. It was a single combat between us; we both of us strengthened the ranks of two opposing armies, and advanced the causes of royalty and republicanism respectively, only in order that we, the centre of our war and of our world, might meet at last and terminate the struggle with the existence of one or both of us.

You know how events hurried on. How an amnesty was offered to us, if we would lay down our arms. Lay down our arms! I grasped my sword, and laughed, till the forest rang again. How Carrier came to the guillotinehe was not my quarry; I let him die without a thought. How treachery appeared among us-and symptoms of disaffection. We held together, for war was my game. To the meeting at La Mabilaye I repaired; for, believing that Hoche was to be there, I calculated on his accompanying him. I know not why it was, but Hoche declined coming, and we did not meet. Tout était aux mieux. How we were organised into regular companies of chasseurs under Stofflet, and manœuvred as a regular army, notwithstanding the nominal truce; how the British squadron hove in sight, and the white cockade was mounted on every cap, and long and reiterated shouts of Vive le roi! rent the air, and rung through the forests of Brittany. All this is history; so is the result. My part alone of these deeds and disasters is necessary to be told.

The emigrant army landed from the English fleet at Quiberon. The noblest blood of France was there assembled; and I found myself once more associated with the Polignacs, and the Clermont-Tonnerres, and the Condés, and the D'Orsays. I was assigned the command I most coveted, however, that of my own Chouans, whom I knew, and who knew me. Had all known themselves and each other as we did, the expedition might have turned out differently.

I soon saw that things were going

wrong; I had become lynx-eyed. There was no concentration, no organised system. There was no prince

of the house of Bourbon around whom to rally. Puisaye and D'Hervilly quarrelled. Instead of an instantaneous advance, as urged by Tinteniac and me, days were wasted in consultations and disputes, which came to nothing. I soon saw that we were to be victims, but I was determined to achieve my object.

The republican armies closed round us. Desperately we confronted them; but individual valour could not make amends for the want of unity of plan. Hoche drove us in from point to point; and at length, having taken St. Barbe, shut us up in the narrow peninsula of Quiberon, whence we must either escape to the British fleet, or die without hope of quarter.

As the republican front closed with us, I became, from day to day, more intimately acquainted with Levasseur's movements. Every prisoner had something to tell. His blood-thirsty ferocity had gained him celebrity amongst them. I knew his division, his quarters, his assigned place on each day's march-nay, his very uniform, and the colour of his horse. I kept myself so thoroughly in the secret of the man's movements, that whenever we should meet in open field, I should be able without difficulty to mark him out, and have him before me in the thickest confusion of battle.

The night of the 20th of July, 1795, fell dark and tempestuous. The waves rolled in with fury upon the narrow strip of sand we yet retained upon the shore of France. Our only barrier against the enemy was Fort Penthièvre, which stood, a darker mass, against the dark sky. I lay upon the sand, with my sword-my inseparable companion-in my grasp. Suddenly, a shout was heard above the roar of the waters. I started up, but could see nothing. It proceeded from the direction of the fort, and I knew that a surprise was at least attempted, if it had not succeeded. A moment's agony passed across my brow, like the glow of a fierce fire. This was the only contingency I had not foreseen : my enemy and I might be close to each other in the darkness, without coming into contact.

My worst suspicions were the best founded. Fort Penthièvre had been surprised and taken we were now at

the mercy of the republican army. All those within reach of me rose along with me, and obeying the word of command, placed themselves in order, and rushed upon the advancing enemy. The collision was tremendous. Hoche's guns had already begun to play, and in a few minutes the English squadron, which had been obliged to keep out to sea in consequence of the tempest, announced their presence by the roar of their artillery. From the first I saw that resistance was hopeless; and that escape was almost equally so. D'Hervilly was mortally wounded; Sombreuil, who succeeded him, was a stranger to the place, and lost his presence of mind. It was a hopeless carnage; and my men fell around me in heaps. Nevertheless, I assumed the command which others were unable to exercise, and contrived for some time to protect the masses of emigrants who, with their wives and children, were rushing into the water to embark on board the English boats. I must have been calm; for while engaged in this arduous duty, I took advantage of every cannon shot fired close to me, to survey the opposite ranks in search of Levasseur. In so dark a night, the flash of the discharge from a piece of ordnance throws an intense glare for a considerable space; and as I had habituated my eyes to take in numerous objects distinctly at a sudden glance, I was now, after one or two of these momentary surveys, able to ascertain with tolerable accuracy the order of the hostile column, and where I ought to look for him. found that in order to confront him, I must move to the right, or as close to the edge of the sea as possible. This was difficult, in the face of the enemy; but finding that Sombreuil had just come up to the point I defended with a fresh body of emigrants, I drew my exhausted men off for a moment, and moving round a small sandy eminence, threw them once more upon the hostile army, almost within the surf of the shoreward waves.

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The result was as I had anticipated. Certain signs gave evidence of Levasseur's vicinity. I recognised the uniform of his corps, and at last had the inexpressible satisfaction of hearing his voice, above the roar of the waves, urging on his men.

By this time matters had drawn to a conclusion. The two armies were mingled together in the darkness.

The few boats which had succeeded in gaining the shore, had either sunk or were sheering off overloaded with fugitives; in all directions cries were heard of "quarter! quarter !"—a boon which in some instances was accorded by the soldiers, as the despairing emigrants or Chouans laid down their arms; though in most these wretches were cut down without mercy. From the sea, the frightful confusion was added to by the broadsides of the British fleet poured in upon the shore, and sweeping off friend and foe in indiscriminate slaughter. I had almost given up the hope of surviving to fulfil my mission, when a sudden flash discovered Levasseur within five yards of me, a little advanced before his men, in the act of pointing a gun at a boat which had just quitted the shore, filled with women and children.

I might have rushed forward and cut him down. I do not know why I did not do so. I walked up to him, and laid my hand upon his shoulder, uttering in his ear the word "Levasseur!" He started up from the stooping posture, and in an instant drew a pistol from his belt, and fired. Had he not been disconcerted, he must have killed me; as it was, his ball grazed my ribs. He drew back, aghast.

"Coward!" cried I; "draw your sword. I shall wait until you can defend yourself."

We could see each other, now we were so close, by the gleaming of the cannonade. Even at that desperate moment, I was startled as I suddenly became conscious that a change had taken place in his appearance. His black hair had grown white. The confirmation of an original surmise flashed across my mind. He must have existed for a greater or less period of time, under the belief that, at the moment of his mortal sin, he had fallen into the hands of the LIVING GOD.

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Why should we fight?" he now exclaimed, in a subdued voice. "She is dead, long ago."

“And buried!” cried I, holding up to his eyes the Golden Guillotine.

"God! Whence has that come?" "From the depths of the ocean, in which thy bones shall whiten ere long. Thought'st thou that thou wert to escape the Avenger of Blood, because thou had'st placed a mill-stone round the neck of thy secret, and sunk it in the sea ?"

"De Martigny, thou wast my rival

-thou soughtest to strangle me—was it not so ?"

With death staring him in the face, he was yearning to extract some expression which should relieve him once for all from the remnants of the horrible suspicion that had once haunted him. I saw that;-and at the same time felt myself growing weak from loss of blood; yet, so much was I still overpowered with the thought of the fiery tortures the wretch must have gone through to run the stony blackness of his locks into silver in the time, that I could not bring myself to sabre him, and have done with him.

Nor had I need. He had just observed my growing faintness, and was planting his feet to commence the combat in which the chances began to show in his favour, when a ball from an English line-of-battle ship ploughed the sand over both of us, and in its ricochet tore Levasseur's right arm from its socket, laying the ribs of the same side bare to the waist. We fell together he in the agonies of death, I from the shock and previous loss of blood. I had strength left to dip my finger in the pool of gore between us whether his or mine I knew not, or both mingled together and write upon his forehead the single word-ALPHONSINE. This I did that the devils might know what to do with him.

Our men, on both sides, had missed us, and as the action now confined itself to another quarter, they had drawn off to lend their aid at that point. I was left alone with the dying man; and witnessed the blackness of his brow fade into the spectral pallor of death, upon which the gory letters came out like faint writing held against a fire.

The object of my life was accomplished: a dizziness came over me. believed that I died.

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rescued me from two republican soldiers who were just about to knock me on the head and plunder me, and borne me aboard Admiral Warren's squadron.

Young man, little more remains to be said. When, years afterwards, royalty had been restored to France, I repaired to the lonely beach at the mouth of the Loire, and had the bones of all that had once made life dear reverently removed to this sacred precinct, where, with the consent of the Archbishop, they were buried privately, and a certain number of masses appointed to be said for the soul of the departed. Over this grave I posted myself a sentinel for life. Here I pass my days often my nights. The venerable Archbishop would have solaced my watchings by his presence over and over again, but I withstood him. I preferred performing this duty alone. Nevertheless, when he died, I was smitten to the heart, as you saw-for I had lost my last friend.

Here ended Lenoir's-or De Martigny's narration.

To say to him, at its close, that I trusted he would consider himself as having gained a new one, might be supposed a natural impulse. Nevertheless I could not bring myself to utter the words. Not the story alone, but the sentiments, the feelings, the morality, were French, and did not altogether square with the principles I had been brought up to respect and cherish. I looked upon this man as a formidable relic of formidable times :-as one, in short, who with all his fancied theories, had been rather the slave than the master of those sudden impulses that had so deeply tinctured his life; and I felt a corresponding doubt as to how far an inoculation with ideas of the kind might benefit myself.

The embarrassment caused by these reflections must have shown itself somehow or other at the surface, for, with one of his electric glances, the recluse abruptly rose, and, without uttering another word, stepped forth before me into the now black void outside the grotto; and as he led the way back to the street, his dark cloak, agitated by the wind, flapped heavily before me, and his whitening hair streamed over his shoulders like a meteor.

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