The nuns were in despair, and hung about her night and day, hoping that
she might let fall some words which they might cherish almost as divine
commands; but Angelique, who, unlike her sister Agnes, had all her life
been very impatient of sentimentality, detected this at once, and took
care 'neither to say nor do any thing remarkable.' 'They are too fond of
me,' she once said, 'and I am afraid they will invent all sorts of silly
tales about me.' And in order to put a stop as far as she could to all
the show and parade which she knew her nuns would rejoice in, as she
felt that her end was drawing near she gave them her last order:
'Bury me in the churchyard, and do not let there be any nonsense after
my death.'
GORDON
Many years hence, when the children of to-day are growing old men and
women, they will perhaps look back over their lives, as I am doing now,
and ask themselves questions about the people they have known or have
heard of. 'Who,' they will say, 'was the person I should have gone to at
once if I needed help?' 'Who was the man whose talk made me forget
everything, till I felt as if I could listen to him for ever?' 'What
woman was the most beautiful, or the most charming?' and they will turn
over the chapters in the Book of Long Ago and give the answers to
themselves, or to the boys and girls who are listening for their reply.
Well, if the question were put throughout England at this moment, 'What
man has kindled the greatest and most undying enthusiasm during your
life?' the answer would be given with one voice:
'Gordon.'
* * * * *
It seemed as if from the very first Nature had intended him for a
soldier. His father came of a clan that has a fighting record even in
Scotch history, and he was living on Woolwich Common, within hearing of
the Arsenal guns, when his fourth son, Charles George, was born on
January 28, 1833. Yet, strange to say, though fearless in many ways, and
accustomed to rough games with his numerous brothers and sisters,
Charles as a small boy hated the roar of cannon. Unlike queen Christina
of Sweden, who at four years old used to clap her hands when a gun was
discharged near her, and cry 'Again!' Charles shrank away and put his
fingers in his ears to shut out the noise. It was not lack of courage,
for he showed plenty of that about other things, but simply that the
sudden sound made him jump, and was unpleasant to him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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