“They will return presently,” replied her husband. “I am not going to stay with you to-day. And, Margot, I shall take the lads with me, if they are disposed to go.”
“The lads! my boys!”
“Yes,” said Toussaint, throwing himself down in the shade. “Our country and its people are orphaned; and the youngest of us must now make himself a soldier, that he may be ready for any turn of affairs which Providences may appoint. Do you hear, my boys?”
“Yes, father,” answered Placide in an earnest tone.
“They have then murdered the king?” asked Margot; “or did he die of his imprisonment?”
“They brought him to trial, and executed him. The apes plucked down the evening star, and quenched it. We have no king. We and our country are orphaned.”
After a pause, Paul said—
“It is enough to make one leave one’s fishing, and take up a gun.”
“I rejoice to hear you say so, brother,” said Toussaint.
“Then, father, you will let me go,” cried Moyse. “You will give me your gun, and let me go to the camp.”