s."

"Well spoken, Patsey!" her husband said. "That must be our course.
So long as the Vendeans hang together, with Rochejaquelein at their
head, we must remain true to the cause that we have taken up. When
once again the army becomes a mass of fugitives we can, without
loss of honour, and a clear consciousness that we have done our
duty to the end, think of our safety. I grant that, if one could
find a safe asylum for you and our Louis in the cottage of some
Breton peasant--"

"No, no!" she interrupted, "that I would never consent to. We will
remain together, Jean, come what may. If all is lost, I will ask
you to put a pistol to my head. I would a thousand times rather die
so than fall into the hands of the Blues, and either be slaughtered
mercilessly, or thrown into one of their prisons to linger, until
the guillotine released me."

"I agree with you in that, Patsey. Well, we will regard the matter
as settled. As long as the army hangs together, so long will we
remain with it; after that we will carry out the plans we talked
over, and make for the coast by the way which seems most open to
us."

The next day was spent, by Rochejaquelein and his officers, in
going about among the peasants. They did not disguise from these
the extreme peril of the position, but they pointed out that it was
only by holding together, and by defeating the Blues whenever they
attacked them, that they could hope for safety.

"It was difficult to cross the Loire before," they said; "it will
be tenfold more difficult now. Every boat will have been taken over
to the other side, and you may be sure that strong bodies of the
enemy will have been posted, all along the banks, to prevent our
returning. You have fought well before. You must fight even better
in future, for there is no retreat, no home to retire to. Your
lives, and those of the women and children with you, depend upon
your being victorious. You have beaten the Blues almost every time
that you have met them. You would have beaten them last time, had
not a sort of madness seized you. It was not we who led you across
the Loire; you have chosen to come, and we have followed you.

"At any rate, it is better to die fighting, for God and country,
than to be slaughtered unresistingly by these murderers. You saw
how they fell upon the helpless ones who were unable to cross with
us; how they murdered women and children, although there was no
resistance, nothing to excite their anger. If