It immediately occurred to him, that
the passage of the gate must have been purposely left free to the
devoted blues, and that Henri and his men would fail upon them in the
town, where their discipline and superior arms, would be but of
comparatively little use to them.
He was right; for while the women were yet trembling, panic-struck at
the first sight of their enemies, Henri and his party had entered the
long street from the market-place, and with a fierce yell of defiance,
the Vendean cavalry rushed upon the astonished blues, meeting them
almost beneath the very window from which de Lescure was looking.
The three women crouched round the aged Marquis in the farthest corner
of the room, comforted to find that he whom they so trusted still
expected victory; but nearly fainting with fear, and deafened with the
sounds of the conflict. To de Lescure the sight was pleasure itself; as
he could not be in the fight, the next thing was to see the combatants
and cheer his friends. The foremost of the republican soldiers soon gave
way beneath the weight of the attack; though they fought sturdily, and
did their best to keep their ground.
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