"Luckily," he continued between his teeth, "my brothers still live!"
[CHAPTER XVI]
THE FORAGING CAP
Charles looked at the young nobleman with an astonishment that amounted almost to stupefaction. What! Was this young officer, so handsome, so calm, so youthful, about to die? Then there were men who met death smilingly!
He had never seen but one man who thought he was about to die, and that was Schneider when Saint-Just had ordered him to be fastened under the guillotine. Schneider had been hideous with terror, his legs bent under him, and they had been obliged to carry him up the scaffold steps.
The Comte de Sainte-Hermine, on the contrary, when he was about to die, had gathered all his forces together for the supreme moment. He walked with a light step and a smile on his lips.
Charles drew near him. "Is there no way of saving you?" he asked in a low tone.
"Frankly, I know of none; if I did I should try it."
"But—excuse me; I was far from expecting—"