Nevertheless, Gaspard de Coligny continued to urge upon him warmly the doctrines and ideas which were then fermenting in his mind like new wine, and the conversation was prolonged to great length between the passionate young man and his earnest elder,—the one as determined and impetuous as action, the other grave and serious as thought.
Moreover, the admiral was hardly at fault in his gloomy forebodings; and misfortune was preparing to fertilize the seeds which this interview had sown in Gabriel's ardent soul.
CHAPTER XXXIII
SISTER BÉNIE
It was a calm and beautiful August evening. In the sky, which was of a deep blue studded with stars, the moon had not yet risen; but the night was so much the more full of mystery, more dreamy, and more enchanting.
This mild tranquillity was in striking contrast with the commotion and uproar which had lasted through the day. The Spaniards had made two assaults in quick succession, and had been twice beaten back; but not before they had killed and wounded a larger number than the few defenders of the town could afford to lose. The enemy, on the other hand, had a strong reserve of fresh troops to replace those who were wearied in the contests of the day. So that Gabriel, always on his guard, feared that the two assaults were intended simply to exhaust the strength of the garrison and relax their vigilance, and that a third assault or a nocturnal surprise might have more chance of success. Meanwhile ten o'clock struck from La Collégiale, and nothing took place to confirm his suspicions. Not a light was to be seen among the Spanish tents. In the camp, as in the town, nothing could be heard but the monotonous cry of the sentinels; and the camp itself, like the town, seemed to be reposing after the severe labors of the day.
Consequently Gabriel, after making one last tour of the fortifications, thought that he might for a moment relax the unintermitted watch which he had kept over the town, like a son over his dying mother. St. Quentin had already held out four days since the young man's arrival. Four days more, and he will have kept the promise he made the king; and it will remain only for the king to be true to his.
Gabriel had ordered his squire to attend him, but without saying where he was going. Since his ill-luck of a day or two before with the superior, he had begun to have some suspicions of Martin-Guerre's intelligence, if not of his loyalty. So he had forborne to tell him of the precious information he had procured from Jean Peuquoy; and the false Martin-Guerre, who supposed he was accompanying his master merely on a circuit of the walls, was surprised to see him turn his steps toward the Boulevard de la Reine, where the principal ambulance had been established.
"Are you going to see some wounded man, Monseigneur?" said he.
"Silence!" was Gabriel's only reply, placing his finger to his lips.