"Listen to me; listen!" he cried: "I will not accept such a fearful responsibility alone. I was able to resist you when you wished to yield to the enemy, but when you do yield to me, I can no longer discuss the question; and since every soul in this assembly is of a contrary opinion to that which I hold, and since you all deem the sacrifice useless--" "I believe, may God forgive me," broke in a loud voice from the crowd, "that even you are about to speak of giving up the town, Monsieur l'Amiral." CHAPTER XXVII GABRIEL AT WORK "Who dares thus to interrupt me?" demanded Gaspard de Coligny, with a gathering frown. "I!" said a man, attired in the costume of a peasant of the suburbs of St. Quentin, making his way forward through the crowd. "A peasant!" exclaimed the admiral. "No, not a peasant," rejoined the stranger, "but Vicomte d'Exmès, captain of the king's Guards, who comes in his Majesty's name." "In the king's name!" exclaimed the throng of astonished citizens. "In the king's name," repeated Gabriel; "and you see that he has not abandoned his noble people of St. Quentin; on the contrary, he is still anxious about them. I came in, disguised as a peasant, three hours since; and during these three hours I have examined the walls and listened to your deliberations. But let me say that what I have heard hardly agrees with what I saw. Whence this discouragement, suitable for none but women, which seems to have stricken with panic the stoutest hearts? How comes it that you thus suddenly lose all hope, and leave yourselves a prey to imaginary fears? What! have you sunk so low that you can only rebel against the will of Monsieur l'Amiral, or bend your necks to the yoke in resignation? Show your face, by the living God, not to your leaders, but to the enemy; and if you cannot overcome them, at least let your defeat be more glorious than a triumph. I come from the ramparts; and I tell you that you can hold them two weeks yet, and the king only asks you to keep the enemy at bay one week to insure the salvation of France. To all that you have listened to in this hall I will make answer in two words, and will point out to you a remedy for your ills and a ray of hope to calm your fears." The officers and notables crowded around Gabriel, already under the magic spell of his powerful and sympathetic will. "Hear him! hear him!" they cried. It was amid a breathless stillness that Gabriel continued,--