"
"Why did you not rush after him, then, M. Chapeau?"
"Rush after him! Why, you simpleton; do you think in wars like that
every man is to rush just where he pleases; you'll soon be taught the
difference. M. d'Elbee was a general, and might go where he liked; but
I was a corporal under M. Henri, with ten men under me. We had to remain
where we were, and cut off the republicans, if they showed their noses
at a point in the street which we covered; it's only the generals that
go rushing about in that way. But here we are at Father Jerome's altar.
Well; I'm very hot. I'm sure its nearly half a league up here from the
church."
They had now come to a rude altar, constructed on a piece of rock, in
front of which was a small space of green turf: the whole spot was
closely surrounded by beech and ash-trees; so closely, indeed, that the
sun hardly made its way into it, and the rocks around it rising up
through the grass afforded ample accommodation for the people. In a
moment, they were on their knees on the grass; some almost immediately
before the altar; others kneeling against the rocks; others again with
their heads and hands resting against the trunk of a huge beech-tree.
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