No Surrender! A Tale of the Rising in La VendeeHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
History
No Surrender! A Tale of the Rising in La Vendee
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
France -- History -- Wars of the Vendée, 1793-1832 -- Juvenile fiction; Vendée (France) -- History -- Juvenile fiction
"Yes, I am aware of it," Jules said. "The party of horse who did it
were specially sent from here. Of course you were the principal
object of the expedition, but the officer was ordered to bring her,
too--in the first place as your wife, in the second as an
Englishwoman and therefore, of course, an enemy of France. You were
denounced to the club; and as you were known to be one of the
gentlemen who had joined the insurrection, and were fighting with
Cathelineau and others, I knew that it would be useless to raise a
voice on your behalf; having the satisfaction of feeling sure that
you would be away from home when they got there, and hoping that
your wife would receive notice of their coming, before they entered
the house."
"Has she been brought here yet?"
"Yes, she arrived three days ago. She is in the old city prison,
where your father is also confined."
"So far that is fortunate," Jean said.
"Now, how about my father? I should have thought that Jacques'
influence would have been sufficient to protect him."
The young advocate smiled bitterly.
"Monsieur Jacques Martin poses as a Brutus, Jean. When your father
was denounced in the club, he rose and said that he should take no
part in the deliberations, that he was before all other things a
patriot, and that he would not permit private affection to
interfere with his duty as a citizen. In fact, my dear Jean,
painful as it must be for you to hear, my opinion is that your
brother has all along been playing a deep game, and that his object
has been to grasp the whole of your father's business and property.
It was a friend of his who denounced you at the club, when I before
gave you warning; it was members of his clique who stirred the
authorities up to send a small body of cavalry to capture you, and
it was they also who denounced your father. Your brother is by far
the most powerful of the committee of safety, as well as in the
club. He assumes an air of perfect disinterestedness, and of a
passionate love for the republic. His vote is always given for
death. I think he takes Saint Just as his model, and repeats his
assertion, that it is only by the destruction of the enemies of
France that France can be freed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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