"I have been ill--very ill, and must have lost much blood," said I, as the room seemed to whirl round me; "who has been my doctor?" "Angelique, with my assistance. There are no doctors nearer than Rennes, the nuns of St. Gildas excepted, and they could not be taken into our confidence, though good Père Celestine was. So what was to be done, but to seclude you here at the top of the house and trust to Heaven and your youth for recovery." "Dear Mademoiselle de Broglie, all this was more than I had any reason to expect of you--more than human kindness! Had I died here, what would you have done?" "Prayed for you," was the reply; "but ah, don't speak of such a thing!" "How the child talks!" said Angelique; "Monsieur de Boisguiller's Hussars are playful lambs when compared to our Breton peasants--our woodcutters and charcoal-burners. They would have torn you limb from limb had they caught you. _Ma foi!_ yes--and they would storm the chateau, perhaps, if they knew you were in it, as one would crack a nutshell to get at the kernel." "How far are we from the hills of Paramé?" "About fifteen leagues," replied Mademoiselle de Broglie; "but why do you ask?" "Because our camp was there, mademoiselle." "My poor friend, you are not aware of what has taken place since fortune cast you almost dying at our door." "A battle has been fought!" "No; for the Duke of Marlborough, who lacks the skill of his great namesake, on hearing that certain forces were marching against him, under Monseigneur le Duc d'Aiguillon, Governor of Brittany, withdrew his troops from Dol and Paramé, and retreating with all speed to the bay of Cancalle, embarked his whole forces there on the 12th of this month, and sailed for England." "Are all gone?" I inquired, with irrepressible agitation. "All--save the dead and you." "And I am left here!" I exclaimed, overcome with consternation. "With _us_," replied the lady with a pouting smile. "True, mademoiselle; my exclamation is alike ungrateful and ungallant; what matter is one poor trooper more or less." "However, monsieur may soon see his friends again," continued Mademoiselle de Broglie, "for they still menace our poor province of Brittany. So stormy has been the weather, that it was not until the 21st of this month the fleet got clear of the coast of France. On the 25th it was visible off Hâvre de Grace, which M. Marlborough bravely enough reconnoitred in an open cutter; but Heaven favoured us with another tempest, and the British were blown out to sea. On the 27th----" "Yesterday!" "Only yesterday, as the Chevalier de Boisguiller informed me this morning, they came to anchor within two miles of Cherbourg, and hoisted out some flat-bottomed boats with the English guards to attack the forts of Querqueville and L'Hommet; but again kind Heaven----" "With St. Malo and St. Suliac," interposed the _soubrette_.