The Chouans
THE CHOUANS I AN AMBUSCADE Early in the year VIII., at the beginning of Vendemiaire, or, to conform to our own calendar, towards the close of September, 1799, a hundred or so of peasants and a large number of citizens, who had left Fougeres in the morning on their way to Mayenne, were going up the little mountain of La Pelerine, half-way between Fougeres and Ernee, a small town where travellers along that road are in the habit of resting. This company, divided into groups that were more or less numerous, presented a collection of such fantastic costumes and a mixture of individuals belonging to so many and diverse localities and professions that it will be well to describe their characteristic differences, in order to give to this history the vivid local coloring to which so much value is attached in these days,--though some critics do assert that it injures the representation of sentiments.
"It was dark--up there?"
"Pitch dark. Did you see him go out?"
"No," she answered, steadying herself under the influence of his
steadiness.
"I 'm sorry he escaped," he apologized.
"Don't think of that now," she exclaimed.
She moved nearer him, as though still fearing that he was concealing
some injury from her. He rearranged his disordered collar and tie
while she insisted upon dusting off his coat. He felt the brush of her
fingers in every vein, and stepped almost brusquely towards the
stairway. As a matter of fact he was none the worse for his tussle
save for a good-sized bump which was growing on the back of his head.
"He may be here in hiding or he may have left the house. I wish you
would step outside until I search the place."
"I shall remain here with you," she replied stubbornly.
She was still weak from the excitement of the last few minutes, but she
followed closely at his heels while he went into every room and closet
THE CHOUANS I AN AMBUSCADE Early in the year VIII., at the beginning of Vendemiaire, or, to conform to our own calendar, towards the close of September, 1799, a hundred or so of peasants and a large number of citizens, who had left Fougeres in the morning on their way to Mayenne, were going up the little mountain of La Pelerine, half-way between Fougeres and Ernee, a small town where travellers along that road are in the habit of resting. This company, divided into groups that were more or less numerous, presented a collection of such fantastic costumes and a mixture of individuals belonging to so many and diverse localities and professions that it will be well to describe their characteristic differences, in order to give to this history the vivid local coloring to which so much value is attached in these days,--though some critics do assert that it injures the representation of sentiments.