"Then you will keep the government as your husband?" he asked, with forced humour, as he saw the Cure and the Notary approaching.
"It is less trouble, Seigneur," she answered, with a smile of relief.
M. Rossignol turned to the Cure and the Notary. "I have just offered Mademoiselle a husband she might rule in place of a government that rules her, and she has refused," he said in the Cure's ear, with a dry laugh.
"She's a sensible girl, is Rosalie," said the Cure, not apprehending.
The soldiers were now opposite the church, and riding at their head was the battalion Colonel, also member of the Legislature.
They all moved down, and Rosalie disappeared in the crowd. As the
Seigneur and the Cure greeted the Colonel, the latter said:
"At luncheon I'll tell you one of the bravest things ever seen. Happened half-hour ago at the Red Ravine. Man who did it wore an eye-glass—said he was a tailor."
CHAPTER XXV
THE COLONEL TELLS HIS STORY
The Colonel had lunched very well indeed. He had done justice to every dish set before him; he had made a little speech, congratulating himself on having such a well-trained body of men to command, and felicitating Chaudiere from many points of view. He was in great good-humour with himself, and when the Notary asked him—it was at the Manor, with the soldiers resting on the grass without—about the tale of bravery he had promised them, he brought his fist down on the table with great intensity but little noise, and said: