"Oh, Thomas Cecil, my good Count," replied the old officer, "Sir Thomas Cecil; but I will go get the horse, and be with you in a moment."
The Count bowed his head, and while the Englishman was away, proceeded to conclude all his arrangements for the march. In something like regular order, but still with evident symptoms of no long training in the severe rules of military discipline, the Count's little force began to march, and a great part thereof was winding down the hill when the old Englishman returned.
"That is a fine troop," he said, "just now getting into motion. If you had many such as that, you might do something."
"They are a hundred of my own Protestant tenantry and citizens," replied the Count. "They have all served under me long in the late war, and were disbanded after the Truce of twenty years was signed. There is not a braver or steadier handful in Europe; and since I have been placed as I am, I make it a point to lead them at the head in any offensive operations on our part, and to follow with them in the rear in the event of retreat, which you see is the case now. You will let them precede us a little, and then we can converse at leisure."
Thus saying, he mounted his horse, and after seeing the little body, which he called his legion, take its way down the hill, he followed accompanied by Sir Thomas, with a small party of attendants fifty yards behind them.
"And now, my good Sir," said the young nobleman, "you will not think me of scanty courtesy if I say that it may be necessary to tell me in what I can serve you; or, in fact, to speak more plainly, if I ask the object of your coming to my quarters, at once, as I am informed that the intendant of the province, with what troops he can bring together from Berry and Rouergue, forming altogether a very superior force to our own, is marching to attack us. If he can do so in our retreat, of course he will be glad to avail himself of the opportunity, especially as I have been led away from the part of the country which it is most easy to defend with such troops as ours, in order to prevent an act of brutal persecution which they were going to perpetrate on one of the best of men. Thus our time for conversation may be short."
"Why, you have not let him surprise you, I hope?" exclaimed the old officer.
"Not exactly that," replied the Count; "but we are come into a part of the country where the people are principally Catholic, and we find a difficulty in getting information. I am also obliged to make a considerable movement to the left of my real line of retreat, in order to prevent one of our most gallant fellows, and his band of nearly three hundred men, from being cut off. He is, it is true, both brave and skilful, and quite capable of taking care of himself; but I am sorry to say grief and excitement have had an effect upon his brain, and he is occasionally quite insane, so that, without seeming to interfere with him too much, I am obliged, for the sake of those who are with him, to give more attention to his proceedings than might otherwise have been necessary."
The Count paused, and the old officer replied, in a thoughtful tone, "I am in great hopes, from what I hear, that you will find more mild measures adopted towards you than you anticipate. Are you aware of who it is that has been sent down to command the troops in this district, in place of the former rash and cruel man?"
"No," replied the Count, "but, from what I have heard during these last four days, I have been led to believe that a man of far greater skill and science is at the head of the King's troops. All their combinations have been so much more masterly, that I have found it necessary to be extremely cautious, whereas a fortnight ago I could march from one side of the country to the other without any risk."