"I have come home, safe, father," said Henri, "to lay my sword at your
feet."
"You must not leave it there long, Henri, I fear, you must not leave it
there long; these traitors are going to devour us alive; to surround us
with their troops and burn us out of house and home; they will
annihilate the people they say, destroy the towns, and root out the very
trees and hedges. We shall see, Henri--we shall see. So they made a bad
fight of it at Saumur?"
"They had two men to one against us, besides the advantage of position,
discipline and arms, and yet they marched the best part of their troops
off in the night without striking a blow."
"Thanks be to the Lord, we will have our King again; we will have our
dear King once more, thanks be to the Almighty," said the old man, eager
with joy. "And they fled, did they, without striking a blow!"
"Some of them did, father; but some fought well enough; it was desperate
sharp work when poor Charles was wounded."
"God bless him! God bless him! I didn't doubt it was sharp work; but
even with valour, or without valour, what could sedition and perjury
avail against truth and loyalty! they were two to one; they had stone
walls and deep rivers to protect them; they had arms and powder, and
steel cuirasses; they had disciplined troops and all the appanages of
war, and yet they were scattered like chaff; driven from their high
walls and deep moats, by a few half-armed peasants; and why? why have
our batons been more deadly than their swords? because we have had truth
and loyalty on our side.
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