"Those old families do sometimes send out vigorous shoots. He has just
returned from a country where, they say, the /ci-devants/ didn't find
life too easy, and men ripen like medlars in the straw. If that fellow
is really clever he can lead us a pretty dance. He has already formed
companies of light infantry who oppose our troops and neutralize the
efforts of the government. If we burn a royalist village he burns two
of ours. He can hold an immense tract of country and force us to
spread out our men at the very moment when we want them on one spot.
Oh, he knows what he is about."
"He is cutting his country's throat," said Gerard in a loud voice,
interrupting the captain.
"Then," said the /emigre/, "if his death would deliver the nation, why
don't you catch him and shoot him?"
As he spoke he tried to look into the depths of Mademoiselle de
Verneuil's soul, and one of those voiceless scenes the dramatic
vividness and fleeting sagacity of which cannot be reproduced in
language passed between them in a flash. Danger is always interesting.
The worst criminal threatened with death excites pity. Though
Mademoiselle de Verneuil was now certain that the lover who had cast
her off was this very leader of the Chouans, she was not ready to
verify her suspicions by giving him up; she had quite another
curiosity to satisfy.
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