The Battle of the Strong: A Romance of Two Kingdoms — Volume 6 — John Shaqi
The Battle of the Strong: A Romance of Two Kingdoms — Volume 6Parker, Gilbert
General
The Battle of the Strong: A Romance of Two Kingdoms — Volume 6
Parker, Gilbert
Anglo-French War, 1793-1802 -- Fiction; Channel Islands -- Fiction
"That's what I say," answered the jailer, "those great folks does things
their own ways."
"Ma fistre, I believe you," ejaculated the centenier. "But for the
Chevalier there, for a Frenchman, that is a man after God's own heart--
and mine."
"Ah then, look at that," said Manon Moignard, with a sneer, "when one
pleases you and God it is a ticket to heaven, diantre!"
But in truth what Detricand and the Chevalier had done was but of human
pity. The day after the duel, Detricand had arrived in Paris to proceed
thence to Bercy. There he heard of Philip's death and of Damour's
desertion. Sending officers to Bercy to frustrate any possible designs
of Damour, he, with the Chevalier, took Philip's body back to Jersey,
delivering it to those who would do it honour.
Detricand did not see Guida. For all that might be said to her now the
Chevalier should be his mouthpiece. In truth there could be no better
mouthpiece for him. It was Detricand--Detricand--Detricand, like a
child, in admiration and in affection. If Guida did not understand all
now, there should come a time when she would understand. Detricand would
wait. She should find that he was just, that her honour and the honour
of her child were safe with him.
As for Guida, it was not grief she felt in the presence of this tragedy.
No spark of love sprang up, even when remembrance was now brought to its
last vital moment. But a fathomless pity stirred her heart, that
Philip's life had been so futile and that all he had done was come to
naught. His letter, blotched and blotted by his own dead cheek, she read
quietly. Yet her heart ached bitterly--so bitterly that her face became
pinched with pain; for here in this letter was despair, here was the
final agony of a broken life, here were the last words of the father of
her child to herself. She saw with a sudden pang that in writing of
Guilbert he only said your child, not ours. What a measureless distance
there was between them in the hour of his death, and how clearly the
letter showed that he understood at last!
The evening before the burial she went with the Chevalier to the Cohue
Royale. As she looked at Philip's dead face bitterness and aching
compassion were quieted within her. The face was peaceful--strong.
There was on it no record of fret or despair. Its impassive dignity
seemed to say that all accounts had been settled, and in this finality
there was quiet; as though he had paid the price, as though the long
account against him in the markets of life was closed and cancelled,
and the debtor freed from obligation for ever. Poignant impulses in her
stilled, pity lost its wounding acuteness. She shed no tears, but at
last she stretched out her hand and let it rest upon his forehead for a
moment.
"Poor Philip!" she said.
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