"And you, what do you want?" he said.
"Oh, monsieur le marquis, if the king comes back that's all I want."
"But for yourself?"
"For myself? are you joking?"
The marquis pressed the horny hand of the Breton, and said to Madame
du Gua, who was near them: "Madame, I may perish in this enterprise
before I have time to make a faithful report to the king on the
Catholic armies of Brittany. I charge you, in case you live to see the
Restoration, not to forget this honorable man nor the Baron du Guenic.
There is more devotion in them than in all those other men put
together."
He pointed to the chiefs, who were waiting with some impatience till
the marquis should reply to their demands. They were all holding
papers in their hands, on which, no doubt, their services were
recorded over the signatures of the various generals of the former
war; and all were murmuring. The Abbe Gudin, the Comte de Bauvan, and
the Baron du Guenic were consulting how best to help the marquis in
rejecting these extravagant demands, for they felt the position of the
young leader to be extremely delicate.
Suddenly the marquis ran his blue eyes, gleaming with satire, over the
whole assembly, and said in a clear voice: "Gentlemen, I do not know
whether the powers which the king has graciously assigned to me are
such that I am able to satisfy your demands.
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