“Hugh, my only love!” she cried, in a voice vibrant with tenderness; and with the words she extended to me her trembling, upturned hands. In my eyes it seemed as though they held all the priceless treasure of her enduring love.
For a few days longer the cannon continued to grumble backward and forward between wall and trench, until the arrival of the Vanguard, Diana, and Lawrence placed matters beyond a peradventure. Thereupon M. de Lévis promptly disbanded his Canadians, and during the night of the 16th, under a searching fire from the ramparts, he withdrew from his lines, and fell back upon Deschambault.
The siege was at an end. Within the town officers and men rejoiced in their escape from incessant duty, and welcomed the plenty which succeeded the semi-starvation of the winter; the towns-people, as is always the case, were ready to accept any rule which would guarantee to them security and peace, while the surrounding parishes were gladdened by the return of their volunteers, seeing therein a promise of the renewal of the quiet for which they longed. The gates were thrown open, and once more the country-folk thronged within the walls to offer their scanty provisions, and to bargain with the “kilties” and “red-coats” with a confidence that spake well for the humanising influences of war. General Murray received M. Malartic, who had been left in charge of the wounded in the General Hospital, and other of our officers at his table in friendly hospitality, and ordinary life took up its interrupted course.
But with much rejoicing on the one hand came sadness on the other. The news of the death of Sarennes was now received in due course by his mother and sister, but was borne with surprising spirit, especially by the former, who comforted herself with the thought that the last of his house had found death in a profession which his fathers had distinguished by their name, while his sister had both youth and love to support her.
Kit was jubilant over his promotion as ensign, which had happened even sooner than his captain had foretold; he was received by his superiors and equals with flattering congratulations, and the men looked without jealousy on his advancement. To me it was gratifying to find he valued it not so much for the position, as for the recognition of his proper standing as a gentleman's son.
Nairn was happy in his escape from the humiliation of being asked in marriage, and impatiently counted the days of mourning until he could make his demand on Mademoiselle de Sarennes “selon tous les règles de la bienséance.” That he was in love, even to the point of blindness, was amply proved by his astonishment that there were others in the like case as himself.
“Captain Nairn,” I said to him, in Margaret's presence, the day before his departure for Montreal with the troops, “as you are the head of your family, I have the honour to demand of you the hand of your sister in marriage.”
“God bless my soul, Peggy!” he exclaimed, with the utmost honesty. “I had never thought of you as marrying. I had planned that you would always live with me.”
“Suppose, Nairn, that Mme. de Sarennes had said the same of Angélique?”
“But that is different. You see, Peggy is...” But here he fell into a sadden confusion, and then, correcting himself, cried, with much vehemence: “No, she isn't! Peggy, you are the dearest girl in the whole world! You deserve all the world can give you. You take her, Chevalier, with the best wishes of a brother, whose greatest misfortune has been not to have known her better.”