Cerise: A Tale of the Last CenturyWhyte-Melville, G. J. (George John)
General
Cerise: A Tale of the Last Century
Whyte-Melville, G. J. (George John)
Historical fiction
which drove them back in disorder, yelling, boasting, vowing vengeance,
but without any thought of again placing themselves in danger of lead
or steel. In the death of Hippolyte, the revolt had lost its chief, and
became from that moment virtually a failure. The Coromantee was the only
negro concerned really capable of directing such a movement; and when
his leadership was disposed of by a rapid thrust from Captain George’s
rapier, the whole scheme was destined to fall to pieces of itself, after
the reaction which always follows such disorders had taken place, and the
habits of every-day life began to reassert themselves. In the meantime,
the blacks had more congenial amusements in store than voluntary
collision with an English boat’s crew, and soon desisted from a search
through the jungle, apparently as troublesome and hazardous as a hunt for
a hornet’s nest.
By sunrise, therefore, Slap-Jack was able to draw off his party from
their post, and fall back to where the Marquise sat watching by the dead
seaman, on the brink of the lagoon. Nor was Bottle-Jack the only victim
of their escape, for poor Fleurette had already paid the price of her
fidelity with her life.
A strong reinforcement from ‘The Bashful Maid,’ led by her Captain in
person, who had returned at once, after placing Cerise in safety, enabled
Madame de Montmirail and her defenders to take the high road to Port
Welcome in defiance of all opposition. They therefore rounded the lagoon
at once, and proceeding by an easier route than that which her daughter
followed, reached the quay at their leisure, thence to embark on board
the brigantine unmolested by the crowds of rioters with whom the town was
filled.
Therefore it was that Madame de Montmirail now found herself on the deck
of ‘The Bashful Maid,’ urging with a strange persistency, unusual and
even unbecoming in a mother, Captain George’s immediate marriage to her
child, who was quietly sleeping off the night’s fatigues below.
“There is the chapel, madame,” said George, pointing to the little white
edifice that stood between the lighthouse and the town, distinguished
by a cross that surmounted its glistening roof, “and here is the bride,
safe, happy, and I hope sound asleep beneath the very spot where we are
standing. I know not why there should be an hour’s delay, if indeed
the priest have not taken flight. There must have been a prospect of
martyrdom last night, which he would scarce wish to inspect too closely.
Ah! madame, I may seem cold and undemonstrative, but if you could look
into my heart you would see how happy I am!”
His voice and manner carried with them a conviction not to be disputed.
It probed the Marquise to the quick, and true to her character, she
pressed the instrument deeper and deeper into the wound.
“You love her then, monsieur?” she said, speaking very clearly and
distinctly through her set teeth. “You love her as a woman must be loved
if she would be happy—unreservedly, with your whole heart?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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