Rise, dearest, and let me see your
face. I feel that I have strength now to tell you all that I have to
say. I may probably never have that strength again."
She rose at his bidding, and sat upon the bed where he could look full
upon her face; and then he began to pour out to her all the wishes of
his heart, all the thoughts which had run through his brain since
consciousness returned to him after his wound. After a little while she
conquered her emotion, and listened to him, and answered him with
attention. He first spoke of their daughter, who was now in safety, with
relatives who had fled to England, and then of herself, and the probable
result of the Vendean war. He told her that he would not say a word to
discourage Henri: that had his life been spared, he should have
considered it his own most paramount and sacred duty to further the war
with every energy which he possessed; but that he did not expect that
it would ever terminate favourably to their hopes. "The King will reign
again," he said, "in France; I do not doubt it for a moment; but years
upon years of bloodshed will have to be borne; the blood of France will
be drained from every province, aye, from every parish, before the guilt
which she has committed can be atoned for--before she can have expiated
the murder of her King.
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