lk in the groves,
many an hour of relaxation in the salon, which she would have despised,
but for their affording an interest to Genifrede. The three were more
than ever drawn together by their new experience of the conduct of the
French. Never was sick man more impatient to be strong than Dessalines.
Genifrede regarded him as the pillar of the cause, on account of his
uncompromising passion for vengeance; and his wife herself counted the
days till he could be again abroad at the head of his forces.

When not in attendance upon him, Genifrede spent the hours of daylight
at the station on the height. She cared neither for heat nor chill
while there, and forgot food and rest; and there was sometimes that in
her countenance when she returned, and in the tone of her prophesying
about the destruction of the enemy, which caused the whisper to go round
that she met her lover there, just under the clouds. Monsieur Pascal--
the rational, sagacious Monsieur Pascal--was of opinion that she
believed this herself.

On this station, and other heights which surrounded the mansion, there
were other objects of interest than the visitations of the clouds, and
the whisperings of the breezes from the depths of the woods. For many
days, a constant excitement was caused by the accession of troops. Not
only Toussaint's own bands followed him to the post, but three thousand
more, on whom he could rely, were spared from his other strong posts in
the mountains. Soon after these three thousand, Christophe appeared
with such force as could be spared from the garrisons in the north. The
officers under Dessalines also, aware that the main struggle, whenever
the French would come to an engagement, must be in the Plateaux de la
Ravine, drew thither, with the remnants of the force which had suffered
defeat in the south-west. Hither, too, came Bellair, with his family,
and the little garrison which had fortified and held L'Etoile, till it
became necessary to burn and leave it.

Messenger arrived after messenger, to announce these accessions of
force; and the whole household poured out upon the heights to see and
hear. If it was at noon, the clear music of the wind-instruments
floated faintly in the still air; if the morning or evening breezes were
abroad the harmony came in gushes; and the shouts of greeting and
reception were plainly distinguishable, and were responded to
involuntarily by all at Le Zephyr but the two prisoners. Under the