Mary wept her father as dead; but yet she insisted upon hearing the tidings that every courier brought in, with that anxious eagerness which showed that a spark of hope, however faint, still remained alive within her bosom; but with her, and, indeed, with every one else, as fresh news arrived, as the accounts of the stern determination evinced by the duke before the battle were multiplied, and as his often reiterated declaration that he would never quit the field alive, was repeated, the conviction of his death became more and more complete.
In the meanwhile, the people of the city, collecting in eager and anxious crowds in the streets, especially towards the Brussels gate, canvassed in low tones the events that had taken place. As one horseman after another entered the town, still some individual would start out to accost him, and running by his side as he rode on, would gather from him whatever information he would afford, and then return to tell it to the groups, whose comments on the past were seldom unconnected with some of those whispered apprehensions for the future, which, like the low moanings of the rising wind, generally give notice of a coming storm long before it is ready to fall upon the earth.
CHAPTER XX.
It was remarked as an extraordinary fact, that during the whole course of that evening--an evening of the greatest excitement and anxiety, perhaps, that Ghent had ever known--not one of the principal and most influential citizens was seen in the streets of the city. The groups which collected were altogether of the lower classes; and those amongst them who were supposed to be the most knowing in the policy of the higher burghers, could discover no other sign of interest and agitation on their part, than was afforded by the sight of one of the serving-men of Albert Maurice calling rapidly at the houses of five or six of the principal merchants, amongst whom the druggist Ganay was the first.
Gradually, as the evening closed in, the crowds began to disperse--a considerable number returning home early, to discuss with their wives and families the news they had collected in the town, and to acquire that degree of domestic importance which a budget of strange tidings is always sure to impart to the bearer. One after another, the diminishing groups thus separated at length--the wind, which was intensely cold, though symptoms of a thaw had begun to manifest themselves, driving even the most persevering to the shelter of their own homes, as the night advanced--and only one or two idle young men, who could boast some acquaintance with the soldiers on guard at the Brussels gate, remained after nine o'clock within the warm refuge of the guard-house, waiting for any tidings that might still arrive.
The many varied scenes, the continued presence of danger, the frequent breaking short of ties and affections, have all a natural tendency to render the heart of an old soldier, in some degree callous and indifferent to events which agitate and affect younger and fresher-minded men. It was wonderful to hear with what calm composure the veterans in the guard-house talked over the events which had spread grief and dismay through the palace, and excitement and alarm in the city. Although they all loved and admired the character of Charles the Bold, for the very lion-hearted qualities which had led him to attempt impossible enterprises, and to rush upon certain defeat, yet they canvassed his conduct with calm and somewhat contemptuous examination, and spoke of his probable death in the same terms that they might be supposed to use in talking of a hound which had been gored by the boar.
"Why the devil did he sit down before Nancy, in the middle of winter?" cried one; "he might have known very well that nobody would stay with him, looking at stone walls, in a frost like this."
"Ay, ay, but he did worse than that!" replied another: "why did he trust a set of Italian hirelings, when he had good subjects of his own?"
"Why, old lions," rejoined a third, "will, they say, grow both suspicious and obstinate."
"Full time, then, that they should get their throats cut," answered the first: "but I know old Charlie well; and I will bet a flagon of Beaune to a flask of sour Rhenish, that he never left the field of Nancy. No, no; he had had enough of running away; and sure I am that he died like a stag at bay. Well, I am almost sorry that I was not with him, though a warm guardhouse and a pottle-pot are better, at any time, in a January night, than the cold ground and a bloody nightcap. Hie thee over, Bontemps, to the vintner's at the corner, and fill the flagon with the best thou canst get for that broad piece. By my faith! we will have a carouse to the old Lion of Burgundy, be he living or dead, and then we will go sleep. Hie thee over, while I undo the gate, for there is some one blowing his horn: a new post from Alost, bringing more news, I warrant."