"Put them--put--put them--"
What could it mean? The four hands clasped.
"Ah!" said one, with fresh tears, "he is trying to speak and cannot."
But he did.
"Aurora De Gra--I pledge'--pledge'--pledged--this union--to your fa'--father--twenty--years--ago."
The family looked at each other in dejected amazement. They had never known it.
"He is going," said Agamemnon; and indeed it seemed as though he was gone; but he rallied.
"Agamemnon! Valentine! Honoré! patriots! protect the race! Beware of the"--that sentence escaped him. He seemed to fancy himself haranguing a crowd; made another struggle for intelligence, tried once, twice, to speak, and the third time succeeded:
"Louis'--Louisian'--a--for--ever!" and lay still.
They put those two words on his tomb.