ean said to Leigh:

"I shall ride tomorrow to the castle of Clisson. I know Monsieur de
Lescure. He has wide influence, and is known to be a devoted
royalist, and to have several royalist refugees now at his house. I
shall be able to learn, from him, whether his intention is to take
part in the insurrection. It is a long ride, and I shall not return
until tomorrow.

"If you like, you can ride north to Saint Florent. If there should
be any tumult, I charge you not to take any part in it. You had
better leave your horse at some cabaret on this side of the town,
and go in on foot. It is possible that there will be no trouble
there, for they are sure to have made preparations against it; and
it is more likely that there will be disturbances at smaller
places. Still, it will be interesting to mark the attitude of the
peasants.

"You see, if there is to be a war, it is their war. The gentlemen
here would have fought for the king, had there been a shadow of a
prospect of success, and had he given the smallest encouragement to
his friends to rally to his support. They might even have fought
against the disturbance of the clergy. But they would have had no
followers. The peasants cared but little for the king and, though
they did care enough for the priests to aid them to escape, they
did not care enough to give battle for them. They are now going to
fight for their own cause, and for their own liberty. They have to
show us that they are in earnest about it, before we join them. If
they are in earnest, we ought to be successful. We ought to be able
to put a hundred thousand men in arms and, in such a country as
this, we should be able to defy any force that the Convention can
send against us; and to maintain the right of La Vendee to hold
itself aloof from the doings of the rest of France.

"But, as I said, until we know that they are really in earnest, we
cannot afford to throw in our lot with them; so if you go to Saint
Florent, keep well away from the point where the drawing is to take
place. Watch affairs from a distance. I have little doubt that
those who go will go with the determination of defending
themselves, but whether they will do so will depend upon whether
there is one among them energetic enough to take the lead. That is
always the difficulty in such matters. If there is a fight we must,
as I say, simply watch it. It is, at present, no affair of ours. If
it begins, we shall all have our work before us, plent