Henri knelt down on the floor, by the side of the low wooden stretcher,
and putting his arm over Adolphe's shoulder, thought for a while what
he could say to comfort the crushed spirit of the poor wretch, whose
insanity had not the usual effect of protecting him from misery. It
occurred to him that his late achievements, as leader of the Breton
peasants, in which, at any rate, he had been successful, would be the
subject at present most agreeable to him, and he determined, therefore,
to question him as to what he had done.
"Come, Adolphe," he said, "get up; we have much to say to each other,
my friend. I have heard much of what you have done here, in Laval and
in Brittany. You have been of great service to us; but we must act
together for the future. Of course you know that there are 80,000
Vendeans on this side of the river: men, women, and children together."
For some minutes Denot still lay with his face buried in the bed,
without answering, and Henri knelt beside him in silence, trying to
comfort him rather by the pressure of his hand, Than by the sound of his
voice; but then he raised himself up, and sitting erect, with his face
turned away from his friend, he said:
"It's no use for you to try to speak of what I have done in Brittany,
when we both know that your heart is full of what I did in Poitou.
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