"For the moment, yes. I hope that we shall be joined by the Count de Lescure, in a day or two. He will, of course, be one of our generals. He has great influence with the peasantry and, if he can but persuade them to remain under arms for a time, we will attack the enemy. Messieurs d'Elbee and Bonchamp, and I may say several of the gentlemen with me, are of opinion that if we are to be successful in the end, it can only be by taking the offensive, and marching against Paris. They urge that we should get Monsieur Charette to go with us with his army, cross the Loire, rouse all Brittany, and then march, a hundred thousand strong, against Paris. "They say that although we have been most successful this time, and repulsed the invaders everywhere except on the coast, they will come again and again, with larger forces, till they overpower us. Possibly, if Monsieur de Lescure and Henri de la Rochejaquelein aid us with their influence and authority, we might persuade the peasants that it is better to make one great effort, and then to have done with it, than to be constantly called from their homes whenever the Blues are in sufficient strength to invade us. We shall tell them, too, that after the two repulses they have suffered, the Blues will grow more and more savage, and that already orders have been sent for all villages to be destroyed, and all hedges and woods to be cut down--a business that, by the way, would employ the whole French army for some years. "However, as soon as our plans are decided upon, I will send a messenger to you. At present there is nothing requiring either you or your scouts, Monsieur Stansfield, and after the good service that they have rendered, it is but fair that they should have a short rest." Patsey was delighted when her husband and Leigh arrived. She was under no uneasiness as to their safety as, after the repulse of Berruyer's army at Chemille, and the rout of Leigonyer, Leigh had sent one of the boys home, with the assurance that they were unhurt. "I don't quite know how much to believe," she said, as they sat down to a meal, "of the reports that the boys have brought home. The first came and told me that on your arrival at Cathelineau's, he himself praised them all, and that Monsieur Bonchamp drilled them for an hour. Then came home two wounded lads, with a story about the great fight, in which they insisted that Leigh commanded, and that they kept the army of the Blues at bay for three hours, and killed hundreds of them. The next messenger told us a tale about Leigh's having discovered some treachery, upon the part of the man who was in charge of the artillery, and that he was in consequence shot. He insisted that Cathelineau had declared that Leigh had saved Chemille, because the enemy were so long delayed that Monsieur d'Elbee, with his band, had time to come up from Chollet and rout the Blues.