"You
are right," he said; "I leave you with her one week; if at the end of
that time you don't come with me--" he did not finish the sentence,
but he slapped the muzzle of his gun with the flat of his hand. After
making the gesture of taking aim at her, he disappeared, without
waiting for her reply.
No sooner was he gone than a voice, which seemed to issue from the
lake, called, in a muffled tone: "Madame, madame!"
The postilion and the two women shuddered, for several corpses were
floating near them. A Blue, hidden behind a tree, cautiously appeared.
"Let me get up behind the coach, or I'm a dead man. That damned cider
which Clef-des-Coeurs would stop to drink cost more than a pint of
blood. If he had done as I did, and made his round, our poor comrades
there wouldn't be floating dead in the pond."
* * * * *
While these events were taking place outside the chateau, the leaders
sent by the Vendeans and those of the Chouans were holding a council
of war, with their glasses in their hands, under the presidency of the
Marquis de Montauran. Frequent libations of Bordeaux animated the
discussion, which, however, became more serious and important at the
end of the meal. After the general plan of military operations had
been decided on, the Royalists drank to the health of the Bourbons.
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