"Then he will be drowned for certain," muttered La Vireville, turning and looking at that wild sea which must have put an end to René's last faint chance of escape.
(But he was wrong about the swimmer, for Gesril du Papeu not only accomplished his mission, but swam back again—to another kind of death.)
And soon to those in the little fort, when the thud and reverberation of the Lark's cannon had ceased, came insistently that sound which in all this desperate business had never been absent from their ears—the great voice of the sea, counting out the hours that were left, till those ears should be deaf to tide and wind for ever. So, after all the hours of tension (for it was now nearly one o'clock in the afternoon), the supreme moment of humiliation and disaster came at last. Charles de Sombreuil slowly detached his sabre, half-drew the blade from its sheath, kissed it reverently, and gave it into Tallien's hands, and Tallien put it into those of Rouget de Lisle. Then the soldiers surrounded the young hussar, and he was lost to sight. The expedition to Quiberon was over.
And as the grenadiers in their blue and white came pouring into the enclosure of the fort, La Vireville (like not a few others) broke his sword under his heel and flung it over the wall into the sea.
CHAPTER XXVIII
Mr. Tollemache as an Archangel
(1)
"Grandpapa," said Anne-Hilarion, "please to tell me what is 'ven-al-ity'?"
Mr. Elphinstone looked up. "Eh, what, child?"
"I read in this great book," proceeded Anne-Hilarion, "This ven-al-ity co-in-cid-ing with the spirit of in-de-pend-ence and en-cro-ach-ment common to all the Pol-y-gars pro-cur-ed them——"
"God bless my soul, what book have you got hold of?" demanded the old man; but before he could pull himself out of his arm-chair to see, there was a knock at the library door, and Elspeth stood revealed.