held at Quinet, he had been startled by
hearing the name of the Sieur de Bellaise, and had identified him with
a grave, thin, noble-looking man, with an air of high-bred and patient
poverty. He was a Catholic but no Guisard, and supported the middle
policy of the Montmorency party, so far as he possessed any influence;
but his was only the weight of personal character, for he had merely a
small property that had descended to him through his grandmother, the
wife of the unfortunate Bellaise who had pined to death in the dungeon
at Loches, under Louis XI. Here, then, Berenger saw the right means of
riding himself and his family of the burthen that his father had mourned
over, and it only remained to convince Eustacie. Her first feeling when
she heard of the King's offer, was that at last her ardent wish would
be gratified, she should see her husband at the head of her vassals,
and hear the war-cry motto '_A moi Ribaumont_.' Then came the old
representation that the Vendeen peasants were faithful Catholics who
could hardly be asked to fight on the Calvinist side. The old spirit
rose in a flush, a pout, a half-uttered query why those creatures should
be allowed their opinions. Madame la Baronne was resuming her haughty
temperament in the _noblesse_ atmosphere; but in the midst came the
remembrance of having made that very speech in her Temple ruin--of the
grave sad look of rebuke and shake of the head with which the good old
minister had received it--and how she had sulked at him till forced to
throw herself on him to hinder her separation from her child. She burst
into tears, and as Berenger, in some distress, began to assure her that
he would and could do nothing without her consent, she struggled to
recover voice to say, 'No! no! I only grieve that I am still as wicked
as ever, after these three years with that saint, my dear father. Do as
you will, only pardon me, the little fierce one!'

And then, when she was made to perceive that her husband would have to
fight alone, and could not take her with him to share his triumphs or
bind his wounds, at least not except by bringing her in contact with
Henry of Navarre and that atmosphere of the old court, she acquiesced
the more readily. She was a woman who could feel but not reason; and,
though she loved Nid de Merle, and had been proud of it, Berenger's
description of the ill-used Sieur de Bellaise had the more effect on
her, because she well remembered the traditions whisper