"No! No!" exclaimed Robert. "You'll live as long as I will! Why, you're only a young man!"
"Twenty-nine," said St. Luc. "Gabrielle was twelve years older than I am. You are more a younger brother than a nephew to me, Robert."
"But I will never become a Marquis of France," said Robert. "I am American, English to the core. I have fought against France, though I do not hate her. I cannot go to France, nor even to England. I must stay in the country in which I was born, and in which my father was born."
"Spoken well," said Willet. "It was what I wanted to hear you say. The Chevalier will return to France. He will marry and have children of his own. Haven't we heard him sing often about the girl he left on the bridge of Avignon? The next Marquis of Clermont will be his son and not his nephew."
Which came to pass, as Willet predicted.
Robert stayed long that night by the pallet of his uncle, to whom the English gave the best of attention, respecting the worth of a wounded prisoner so well known for his bravery, skill and lofty character. St. Luc finally fell asleep, and, going outside, Robert found Tayoga awaiting him. When he told him all the strange and wonderful story that he had heard inside the tent, the Onondaga said:
"I suppose that Dagaeoga, being a great man, will go to Europe and forget us here."
"Never!" exclaimed Robert. "My home is in America. All I know is America, and I'd be out of place in any other country."
And then he added whimsically:
"I couldn't go so far away from the Hodenosaunee."