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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The French Prisoners of Norman Cross, by
+Arthur Brown
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The French Prisoners of Norman Cross
+       A Tale
+
+
+Author: Arthur Brown
+
+
+
+Release Date: December 12, 2007  [eBook #23836]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FRENCH PRISONERS OF NORMAN
+CROSS***
+
+
+Transcribed from the [1895] Hodder Brothers edition by David Price, email
+ccx074@pglaf.org
+
+{Yaxley Church from the S.E.  From photo. by Rev. E. H. Brown: p0.jpg}
+
+   "_Weep sore for him that goeth away_: _for he shall return no more_,
+   _nor see his native country_."
+
+
+
+
+
+THE
+French Prisoners
+OF
+Norman Cross.
+
+
+_A TALE_.
+
+BY THE
+REV. ARTHUR BROWN,
+_Rector of Catfield_, _Norfolk_.
+
+London:
+HODDER BROTHERS,
+18 NEW BRIDGE STREET, E.C.
+
+PRINTED BY
+NOPS & TARRANT,
+19, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.--THE ARRIVAL.
+
+
+The tramp of feet was heard one afternoon late in the Autumn of 1808, on
+the road that leads from Peterborough to Yaxley.  A body of men, four
+abreast, and for the most part in the garb and with the bearing of
+soldiers, was marching along.  But the sight was not exhilarating.  The
+swing and springy step of soldiers on the march is always a pleasant
+sight; but there was a downcast look on most of these men's faces, and a
+general shabbiness of appearance that was not attractive.  And no wonder:
+for they had come from the battlefield, and crossed the sea in crowded
+ships, not too comfortable; and were drawing near, as prisoners of war,
+to the dreary limbo which, unless they chanced to die, was to be their
+abode for they knew not how long.  To be prisoners of war is an
+honourable estate, almost the only captivity to which no shame attaches:
+yet this is but cold comfort to compensate for loss of freedom.
+
+All down the column and on each side of it marched a file of red-coated
+militia-men with guns loaded and bayonets fixed, not as a complimentary
+escort, but a stern necessity, a fact that had been proved not an hour
+before, when some desperate fellow had broken through the guard, and
+flung himself from the parapet of the bridge over the Nene at
+Peterborough, and was shot the moment he rose to the surface of the
+water.  Alas! for him, poor fellow, they could aim well in those days
+with even the old "Brown Bess."
+
+Many a sad procession of unfortunates like these had travelled the same
+road before, during the last five years, but they had consisted for the
+most part of prisoners taken in naval engagements, such as the seamen and
+marines captured from the four Spanish frigates, with a million sterling
+on board; and the men brought to England from both French and Spanish
+possessions in the West Indies, besides crews of privateers, floating
+"Caves of Adullam," where everyone that was in distress, or in debt, or
+discontented, were gathered together, along with many who had taken to
+that wild life to escape political troubles.  Perhaps, also, there had
+been some of those twelve thousand prisoners who had been sent after
+Trafalgar's fight was over in 1805.
+
+It was now, as we have said, the year 1808.  The Peninsular war had
+begun, and the prisoners we are describing were some of those brave
+Frenchmen who had fought against us in one of the first engagements, the
+short but incisive battle of Vimiero.
+
+"Why, Tournier, my friend," cried a young fellow, marching with the
+officers at the head of the column, "how miserable you look!  Who would
+think you were almost at the end of your journey, and about to find
+repose in the hotel the English have provided for us?  I have not seen a
+smile on your face since the day you left Portugal.  Courage, man, or we
+shall all have the blue-devils!"
+
+Those who heard him seemed amused, but Tournier did not deign to notice
+the raillery, though it was not meant ill-naturedly.
+
+An English officer, riding at the side a little in advance, and overheard
+what was said, looked round on Tournier, and, struck with his soldierly
+figure, said quietly, "Let us hope it will not be for long."
+
+"Long, sir?" exclaimed the other; "long as the grave: we are marching
+there."
+
+"Mercy on us!" cried the lively Frenchman, "that's a pleasant idea!  We
+are going to that 'undiscovered country,' as your Shakspeare says, 'from
+whose bourn no traveller returns.'  Bah! let us change the subject, and
+hope for another 'Peace of Amiens,' and as short a one."
+
+And then the light-hearted fellow--for a light heart is often a kind
+one--seeing that open raillery was powerless, tried gentler means to
+cheer his companion up.
+
+"Look, Tournier," he whispered, after a pause, "what a charming view is
+on the left there.  We must be on high ground.  What a panorama for poor
+flat England!  If we are good boys, we shall be out on parole, and be
+able to stroll about the country, and chat with the cherry-lipped maidens
+at the farms, and drink the farm-house milk, and, what is better, their
+famous English beer.  And look, there is a lake, I declare.  It seems a
+good-sized one.  We will go fishing."
+
+So he ran on; and though the words pattered down in vain, like rain upon
+the pavement, yet the evident intention unconsciously pleased, as kind
+intentions often, if not always, do, however awkward the way in which
+they are displayed.
+
+And now, as the column passed a clump of trees at a bend in the road, the
+barracks and their surroundings suddenly came into view.  All eyes were
+directed towards them; and if any of those unhappy sons of France had
+indulged in fancy on the way, and pictured their future place of
+confinement as some romantic fortress, with towering walls and gates of
+iron, they must have been greatly disappointed.
+
+Nothing could be less romantic than the appearance of these Norman Cross
+Barracks.  They looked from outside exactly like a vast congeries of
+large, high, carpenters' shops, with roofs of glaring red tiles, and
+surrounded by wooden palisades, very lofty and of prodigious strength.  In
+fact, the place was like an entrenched camp of a rather more permanent
+type.  But if there was no architectural beauty, there was the perfection
+of security.  It looked like business.  The prisoners were in no wise to
+escape:--
+
+   "All hope abandon, ye who enter here."
+
+Another regiment of militia, besides the men who formed the prisoners'
+escort, was quartered in what we call the soldiers' barracks, to
+distinguish them from those occupied by the prisoners.  Of these, a
+strong body were drawn up right and left of the principal entrance, which
+was in the Peterborough Road, and as the column passed between them the
+soldiers were ordered to salute the officers.  Major Kelly, the
+commandant of the troops, and Captain Mortimer, Admiralty agent to the
+Depot, were there to receive them; and a large number of rustics from
+Yaxley and Stilton, and other villages, had collected as near as they
+could get to the entrance, and made their remarks in various sympathetic
+ways, for the country people, of all classes, were very friendly at all
+times with the prisoners.
+
+"Poor lad," said one woman, as a very youthful prisoner passed by, "he
+does look tired.  What would his mother say if she saw him now?"
+
+"God help them," said another: "they all seem as if they wanted a good
+supper, and go to bed."
+
+"No fear of supper, neighbour," replied a man; "you should just see the
+quarters of beef that go in at t'other gate.  It makes me real hungry to
+think of it."
+
+A big lad, standing close to a gentleman on horseback, who was surveying
+the scene with evident interest, made an ugly face at one of the
+prisoners, and said, "Well, mounseer, how do you find yourself?"  But a
+cut from the horseman's whip across his shoulders taught him a sharp
+lesson of respect for his betters.
+
+A halt was made as soon as the column was well within the outer inclosure
+of the barracks.  Then, in the first place, the officers were marched to
+one of the barrack-yards that was to be their quarters; and then, with
+the marvellous promptitude which military pre-arrangement secures, the
+rest of the prisoners, in batches, were quickly conducted to other
+barrack-yards appointed for them.
+
+A tremendous cheering at that moment burst forth from the prison: a
+volcano of huzzas, of somewhat foreign accent, shot up into the air, with
+shouts of "Vive l'Empereur."
+
+Eager eyes had been watching, and though the palisades surrounding each
+separate yard were much too lofty for men to climb up and look over, yet
+the inmates, though bereft of their liberty, were not bereft of their
+wits, as we shall see in more striking ways as the story proceeds; and
+some of them, from the topmost berths on the sides of their immensely
+high dormitories, had taken off the tiles, and from thence saw all that
+was going on.
+
+We will not attempt to follow the prisoners generally to their quarters,
+but accompany the officers alone.  Enthusiastic were the greetings of
+their companions in tribulation who had been before them, some as long as
+five years.  The shaking of hands, and the embracing, and the kissing,
+and the crying, were as if a very large family had met after years of
+separation.  Albeit, not one of the older prisoners had probably ever
+seen before one of the new arrivals.  All honour to such warmth of
+excitement.  None but those who have lived for years far away from their
+country and home, can understand the intensity of pleasure that is felt
+in meeting _anybody_, literally _anybody_, who comes from "the old
+place."  It may not last, neither does a flash of lightning, but it is
+very real while it lasts.  And what if foreigners exhibit their emotions
+in ways that may seem effeminate to our phlegmatic temperaments?  Are we
+always right--ordained by Providence to set the fashion to all the world
+in everything?  How often does Virgil make the brave Trojans and others
+"weep"?  Nevertheless, it would look funny to see a row of stalwart
+Grenadiers, each one mopping his eyes with a white pocket handkerchief!
+
+The hall of reception was an enormous wooden casern or barn, very long,
+and, as we have said, extraordinarily high, with berths or hammocks all
+up the walls.  It served as dormitory, common-room, and dining-hall; not
+by any means a sanitary arrangement, yet far better than that of
+prisoners of war in some other parts of the country.
+
+Soon after the new-comers had arrived, supper was served, and as the
+older prisoners had waited for their arrival, they all sat down together.
+We will not say the tables groaned under the profusion of viands, but
+there certainly was enough.  Every man had half a pound of beef, together
+with salt and vegetables, and a pound and a half of bread.  The cooks
+were appointed from among the prisoners, and were paid by the English
+Government, and so we may be sure they were Frenchmen, and that those two
+grand features of good cookery were manifested--the most was made of what
+they had, and all was savoury.  Being officers, too, some well supplied
+with money, they had wine on the table, and any other luxury they could
+meet with.
+
+"To your health, my friends," said a fine-looking Frenchman, who had been
+longest in prison, and though well-dressed in civilian clothes, bore
+unmistakable traces of his depressing life.  "We drink to your health.  We
+have all heard of your bravery: how you did all that men could do at
+Vimiero, but were overwhelmed by numbers.  Never mind.  There are yet
+more than enough of Frenchmen in the Peninsula to drive the English into
+the sea.  Let me beg a favour of you.  We are very dull in this place,
+and need cheering.  Relate to us, if you please, any individual acts of
+bravery that came to your notice.  It will do us good, and perhaps make
+us dream to-night we are living soldiers again, not dead ones."
+
+At this, a little man from among the new arrivals, with nothing heroic
+about him, either in face, or mien, or stature, jumped on his legs, and
+with great volubility and much gesticulation, began as follows:
+
+"You are right, monsieur, that is just what we want.  I will tell you now
+what I myself did.
+
+"My regiment formed part of General Brennier's brigade, and we were
+ordered to attack the English left, which we did with incredible fury.  We
+had to ascend what we thought was an accessible ridge, but we had not got
+far when we came to a deep ravine with rocks and water courses all about,
+and could only get on with extreme difficulty and much delay.  From my
+own experience, I should say the battle ought to have been called the
+battle of 'Les Sauteurs.' {17}  I did never jump so much in my life.
+Every step was a leap in that terrible ravine.  We were just like a
+brigade of frogs.  At last we cleared it, when we suddenly came upon a
+sight that made my blood boil.  Six of our guns were there, captured, and
+guarded by a very large number.  'Au secours!' I roared.  I am not very
+big, but my voice is loud.  We all shouted and rushed upon the enemy.  I
+was the first to cut a man down at the guns, and we retook them all."
+
+"Bravo, bravo!" echoed around.
+
+And then the little man added, in a much more subdued tone, "However, the
+English--I heard since there were two regiments of them--reformed higher
+up the hill, and poured a deadly volley into us, and after hard fighting
+got the guns back from us: and I was taken prisoner.  So was also my
+brave general, and wounded too."
+
+The young officer who had rallied Tournier on the march, rose and,
+shrugging his shoulders, remarked, "I have read that when the Athenians
+of old had won some great victory, it was proposed that every general who
+had had a share in it, should at a public meeting deposit one after the
+other in an urn the written name of the general who he thought had proved
+himself the most conspicuous for bravery; and that when the urn was
+examined, it was found that, lo! each general had put down _his own
+name_.  We will not do so"--with a sly glance at the little man--"and,
+therefore, let me tell a story of one, here present, who will never utter
+a word in his own praise, but who richly deserves it.  There is a brother
+sitting amongst us who commanded a troop in as fine a body of cavalry as
+ever drew sword, and I had the honour of being his subaltern.  Thirteen
+hundred of us took part in the fatal fight of Vimiero, under the command
+of General Margaron.  That fight, so fatal, ought to have been won by us,
+and would have been won but for the woods and hollows that covered so
+large a portion of the battle-field, so unfavourable to cavalry.  But,
+nevertheless, from the first commencement of the fight we swept backwards
+and forwards, so far as the wretched nature of the ground would permit,
+between the two armies, and wherever we had a chance we struck hard.  The
+English had but, as we say, a mere handful of cavalry, but, all honour to
+the brave, that handful fought like heroes, and its commander (his name
+was Taylor) was a paladin among them; yet not more so than my captain.
+When one of our brigades, having been repulsed by the enemy, was being
+terribly cut up by their cavalry, a large body of our horse came suddenly
+up, and a melee ensued of great fierceness.  Three of the enemy, one
+after another, did my captain slay with his own hand; and then came a
+single combat the like of which few have seen.  Some of us left off
+fighting to witness it.  The English commander, seeing half his men cut
+to pieces, rode furiously upon my captain, and tried to cut him down.  It
+was a beautiful sight.  Each was a master of fence, and the horsemanship
+was as perfect.  But all at once the horse of Colonel Taylor reared
+violently and fell dead.  A bullet had struck him, and his master was
+pitched on the ground under his adversary's stirrup, completely at his
+mercy.  The sword was lifted to strike, but instantly lowered.  'Rise,
+brave friend!' cried my captain, 'I dare not touch thee!' but as the
+Englishman rose from the ground, and before he could frame a word of
+reply, a second bullet laid him prostrate again, never to rise.  But we
+had delayed too long.  The English came pouring upon us, and in spite of
+frantic efforts we were made prisoners."  Then pointing to his friend,
+who was fidgeting and frowning most portentously all the time, he
+said--"There is the man--my noble Captain Tournier!"  And with such like
+tales the evening passed away.
+
+The curfew bell rang at nine o'clock; the lights were put out; and all
+had betaken themselves to their hammocks.  The sentries (not a few,)
+passed backwards and forwards outside, or stood at ease in their boxes.
+The picquets went the rounds every half-hour.  Each soldier on guard was
+on the alert, and had need to be.  Silence and slumber fell on all but
+the many watchers in that large assemblage of unhappy men.
+
+There was, however, one prisoner who could not sleep that night.  It was
+not the roughness of his accommodation that kept him awake.  Mere
+hardship would have been welcome to him, for he was a true soldier.  It
+was the thoughts of his heart that troubled him; and alas! he knew not
+the soothing power of prayer.  Not a thought of prayer, not one
+paternoster entered his mind.  For he had lost his faith in God.  We do
+not mean that faith which no one has till he asks the Spirit of God to
+give it him, and which then makes him love God in spite of all
+difficulties; but we mean faith in the existence of God, which all have
+by nature, and which sin alone can extinguish; not only grosser sin, but
+sinful vanity of mind.
+
+He thought of his much-loved home, of the mother that was so dear to him,
+what agony of mind she must be undergoing; of his darling Elise, how her
+dear heart must be full of him.  And then there pierced him, like the
+sting of an adder, the thought of separation, certainly for years,
+perhaps for ever, from all that happiness: the hopelessness of his
+condition as a prisoner of war at a time when war seemed chronic in
+Europe, without prospect of cessation.  And in the abject misery of his
+soul--misery all the more intense because of his peculiar sensitiveness
+of nature--he thus bewailed in secret and with rebellious will his fate.
+
+"Cruel, cruel destiny! why did not an English bullet put an end to me at
+once, instead of my lingering on in this slow torture?  Nothing to look
+forward to, nothing to be done to make one ray of hope possible!  _There_
+is the horror, _there_ is the cruelty!  I would plunge with gaiety into
+dangers, and endure without a murmur the tortures of the Red Indian, if
+only there were hope at the end.  But here I am--I, who looked forward
+greedily to a career of honour and distinction--caught like a rat in a
+trap, and not even dead!  Oh, cursed was the day on which I was born!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.--FORMATION OF THE BARRACKS.
+
+
+Some idea has already been given of the formation of the Norman Cross
+barracks; but a fuller and more detailed account of them may, perhaps, be
+interesting.
+
+Norman Cross is the name given to that part of the parish of Yaxley, in
+the county of Huntingdon, where that grand old thoroughfare of England,
+the Great North Road, along which coaches might drive four abreast, is
+crossed by the Peterborough Road.  In one corner, bounded by these two
+roads, is a large piece of pasture land, some forty acres in extent,
+which Government purchased in 1796, for the purpose of erecting barracks
+on it for prisoners of war, then multiplying fast, and for a large number
+of soldiers to guard them.
+
+The situation was exceedingly healthy, being at the highest point of the
+road sloping up for a mile and a half from what was then Whittlesea Mere.
+It was not too near the sea, to make escape more easy, yet near enough to
+Yarmouth, King's Lynn and Wisbeach, to facilitate the landing and
+transport of prisoners to their destination.  It was on the Great North
+Road, only 78 miles from London, and near enough to towns to obtain
+provisions with ease and in abundance.  It was in fact selected by the
+War Office on all these accounts from amongst several other eligible
+sites in the kingdom.
+
+The accounts given of the plan on which these barracks were constructed
+do not altogether agree in particulars.  There is a plan of them still in
+existence which has received the imprimatur of Major Kelly the
+Commandant, his signature being on the back of it in testimony of its
+correctness.  We shall not therefore be very far wrong in making that our
+main guide in the description of them.
+
+The part where the prisoners were confined consisted of sixteen large
+buildings of wood, very long and lofty, each two stories high, placed at
+the end of four rectangular pieces of land (four in each), nearly in the
+centre of the forty acre field, and occupying altogether some fifteen
+acres.  Each rectangle was separated from the others, and was surrounded
+by very high and strong palisades.  They were placed symmetrically round
+a circular block-house, mounted with cannon, which commanded every one of
+the sixteen buildings, as well as the ground attached to them.  There
+were therefore four of these huge buildings, side by side at intervals,
+at one end of each quadrangle, which was again sub-divided so that every
+building had an equal portion of ground belonging to it.
+
+A wall of similar palisading (some say it was of brick, but this is more
+than doubtful,) surrounded the whole of the quadrangles at some distance.
+
+{Norman Cross Prison.  From the original plan: p27.jpg}
+
+The prison was constructed to contain 5,000 prisoners, and compared with
+some other places of confinement in England for a similar purpose must
+have been tolerably comfortable.
+
+Besides these central buildings, which may be called the prison proper,
+there were a great many others scattered about, intended for various
+purposes, such as kitchens, bakehouses, guard-rooms, turnkeys' lodges,
+and, more important than all to the safe custody of the prisoners, two
+large wooden barracks like each other, one at the east and the other at
+the west of the whole enclosure, for the accommodation of two regiments
+of infantry that formed the garrison.
+
+The English officers were quartered in a large wooden house close to the
+road towards the south-east corner of the enclosure, and close to the
+house of the Commandant.  This last was the only building of brick in the
+whole place, and remains to this day, together with the officers' mess-
+room, and the house where they were quartered, now cased with brick.
+
+It is said that 500 hands were employed in the construction of these
+works, and it is not surprising, considering their extent, and the fact
+that the War Office was urgent in pressing them to completion, as the
+prisoners multiplied so fast.  Amongst other things, they had to sink
+some thirty wells in the prisoners' enclosures and other parts.  They
+were of considerable depth, and yielded excellent water, so that the
+large population of this singular place had two of the great necessaries
+of life--good air and good water.  In passing along the Peterborough
+Road, some of these wells may be recognised by the boards placed over
+them, they being still in use for the cattle grazing peacefully on the
+old site, where once so many victims of war had been collected.
+
+The barracks had been erected barely six years when they were put up to
+let by the Government, all the prisoners having been discharged at the
+Peace of Amiens in 1802.  The advertisement is to be seen in the columns
+of the local paper of that date.  Whether any application was made for
+the hire of the whole or any part of the premises in consequence, is not
+known.  He must, at all events, have been an enterprising man who could
+aspire to be tenant of the whole of such an incongruous collection of
+buildings, which, however admirably adapted to the object for which they
+were erected, could only suit the purpose of some local "Barnum" of those
+days.  However, the Government evidently feared they might be wanted
+again, though not so soon as was actually the case: for the Peace of
+Amiens came to an untimely end the following year.
+
+With regard to the internal administration of the Norman Cross barracks,
+very copious particulars are to be found in the Government Record Office.
+Indeed, they are so copious as to be wearisome.  Regulations are varied,
+or new ones added every year.  Thus, at first, there was no _parole_ at
+Norman Cross, or any of the other prisons.  Officers on parole had to
+live at certain places in Great Britain, of which a list is given, under
+the eye of an agent.  But this regulation must afterwards have been
+modified, for it is certain that, as prisoners multiplied, one of the
+large buildings at Norman Cross was allotted to the officers, and that it
+was no uncommon thing for some of them to be allowed, under strict rules,
+to go out on parole.  The mile-stone is still pointed out, which was the
+ordinary limit of the distance the poor fellows might go.  And a very old
+man is still living at Yaxley, who remembers, as a boy, having often seen
+them on the road, some very well dressed, others in tatters, few in
+uniform.
+
+The daily ration of the prisoners was as follows: Five days in the week
+each had a pound or pound-and-a-half of bread, half-a-pound of beef, with
+vegetables, or pease, or oatmeal, with a small quantity of salt.  But on
+Wednesday and Friday, instead of beef, one pound of codfish or herrings.
+No ale or beer was allowed, but it could be procured at the prison
+canteen.
+
+Besides this, there was a special marketplace in the prison grounds, and
+the market hours were from ten to twelve every morning.  Persons were
+searched at the gate before entering, to prevent the introduction of
+liquors, knives, or weapons; and, after entering, they were allowed no
+private communication with prisoners.  King's stores were not allowed to
+be bought from them, but straw hats might be purchased.  Persons of
+credit and respectability might at any time, when visiting the prison,
+purchase such trinkets as the prisoners had to dispose of, being their
+own handiwork.
+
+Complaints were made at one time in Parliament, and in the papers, and
+abroad, of the food and clothing supplied to the prisoners, but they were
+proved to be without foundation.  Two Commissioners were appointed by the
+Government to investigate the matter, and they reported that the health
+of the prisoners was excellent, and that the food was good.  As to the
+clothing, they said that many of the prisoners had such a propensity for
+gaming that, notwithstanding every precaution, they sold their clothes,
+bedding, and even their food before it was due, to raise a trifle to
+gamble with.
+
+But of all who slandered the Government for their treatment of the
+prisoners, no one was worse than that most amiable and pleasant writer,
+George Borrow.  In his book called _Lavengro_, with much picturesqueness,
+but little truth, he thus describes the prison itself:--"What a strange
+appearance had those mighty caserns (five or six of them, he says, but
+there were sixteen) with their blank, blind walls, without windows or
+gratings, and their slanting roofs, out of which, through orifices where
+the tiles had been removed, would be protruded dozens of grim heads,
+feasting their prison-sick eyes on the wide expanse of country unfolded
+from that airy height."
+
+Then again, in his account of the food supplied to the prisoners, he thus
+grossly libels the Government, and indeed the English nation:--"Much had
+the poor inmates to endure, and much to complain of, to the disgrace of
+England be it said--of England, in general so kind and bountiful:--rations
+of carrion meat and bread, from which I have seen the very hounds
+occasionally turn away, were unworthy entertainment even for the most
+ruffian enemy, when helpless and a captive.  And such, alas! was the fare
+in those caserns."
+
+What could have been the matter with the man to write such stuff as this!
+
+One other instance of the reckless way in which he writes about Norman
+Cross.  Speaking of the manner in which a good many of the prisoners
+employed themselves in straw-plaiting of a very superior description, and
+how in course of time they thus competed in what was an employment of the
+English in certain neighbourhoods, Borrow gives the following ridiculous
+account of the manner in which the aid of British soldiery was invoked,
+to put a stop to the manufacture on the part of the poor prisoners:--"Then
+those ruthless inroads, called in the story of the place _straw plait
+hunts_, when in pursuit of a contraband article, which the prisoners, in
+order to procure themselves a few of the necessaries of life, were in the
+habit of making, red-coat battalions were marched into the prison, who,
+with the bayonet's point, carried havoc and ruin into every convenience
+which ingenious wretchedness had been endeavouring to raise around it:
+and the triumphant exit with the miserable booty: and, worst of all, the
+accursed bonfire on the barrack parade of the plaited contrabands beneath
+the view of the glaring eye-balls from their lofty roofs, amidst the
+hurrahs of the troops, frequently drowned in the curses poured down from
+above like a tempest shower, or in the terrific whoop of 'Vive
+l'Empereur.'"
+
+Very rhetorical, but altogether improbable and utterly nonsensical!
+
+The explanation of these exaggerations and misstatements on the part of
+Borrow is to be found in the fact that, as he admits, he was quite a boy
+when he saw Norman Cross barracks.  His father was an officer in one of
+the regiments on guard there (and they were constantly changing), and his
+account was written years afterwards, when it was not likely he would
+remember accurately what he had heard and seen so long ago.  Indeed, he
+acknowledges as much when he begins his account by the ominous words, "If
+I remember right,"--which he certainly did not.
+
+No.  The unfortunate prisoners of Norman Cross were not petted, neither
+were they uncared for.  They were treated as prisoners of war, not as
+criminals; and were not employed (as English prisoners were in France,)
+in public and other works.  They had, poor fellows, a heavy lot to bear,
+but it is an abominable falsehood to say that it was aggravated by any
+needless severity on the part of the English Government.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.--A FRIEND IN NEED.
+
+
+It was not long before Captain Tournier was allowed to go out on parole,
+and that too with considerable latitude both as to distance and length of
+absence.  Major Kelly, the Commandant, and Captain Mortimer, the
+Admiralty agent, had had some talk together about the matter, and were
+not quite in agreement on the subject.
+
+"We shall have some trouble with that fellow Tournier.  He keeps himself
+aloof from the others, and takes no part in their amusements, and goes
+mooning about as if he had got mischief brewing."
+
+"Have you ever found him uncivil or disobedient to orders?" enquired the
+major.
+
+"Oh, not in the least; he conducts himself quite like a gentleman.  But I
+have always found your silent, moody man the most likely one to try and
+blow up the ship."
+
+Captain Mortimer was an honest, open-hearted sailor, inclined to be a
+martinet, but with very little power to discriminate character and (like
+a great many other people in the world,) without painstaking sympathy, as
+the prisoners found to their cost in many ways, though they did not know
+exactly how it was.  Major Kelly, on the contrary, did not judge after
+the outward appearance, but detected something in Tournier's profound
+melancholy which he could not understand indeed, but which his heart
+revolted from setting down uncharitably to evil.
+
+So as his authority was supreme in such a matter as granting parole to a
+prisoner, the agent having charge only (but it was a most important one,)
+of the Commissariat and Transport service, Tournier soon obtained his
+parole.
+
+"You will be disappointed some day about him I fear, major."
+
+"Well, it may be; perhaps so--yes;" which may be regarded as an
+expression of no very great confidence in the prophecy.
+
+One day, Tournier was walking down the hill leading to Yaxley with his
+now customary gloom over-shadowing his face, when he saw a horseman
+approaching.  The rider had been watching him for some little distance as
+he came up, and just before they met pulled up his horse, and bowing,
+said with a pleasant smile, "Good morning, Captain Tournier, I hope I see
+you well."
+
+"Thank you, sir," said the other politely, but with some little surprise,
+"I am very well; but pardon me for asking who it is I have the pleasure
+of speaking to?"
+
+"My name is Cosin, and I live at the old house facing the church close by
+where we are.  So we are fellow-parishioners, _habitants de la meme
+commune_, as you would say in France, I think."
+
+Again a polite bow.  "But will you excuse me for asking how you know
+_me_?"
+
+"Oh, I have heard of you from my friend, Major Kelly.  I will not tell
+you what he said when he described you to me, but I knew you at once from
+his description; and I am very pleased to have met you."
+
+Another bow.  "He told you, I suppose, that you would know me by my sour
+looks.  They all tell me that, or something very similar."
+
+"Far from it.  But you would not like me to repeat compliments.  Yet the
+major did tell me you took your captivity too much to heart."
+
+"That is true, I daresay.  But I cannot help it."
+
+"Then, if you will allow me, let me try and act the part of a friend and
+neighbour.  We are close by each other, as you see.  If you will do me
+the favour of calling on me at the Manor Farm whenever you may in course
+of time feel disposed, I shall be delighted: only the sooner the better."
+
+"A thousand thanks," said the captain with a faint smile, but with no
+intention then of availing himself of the kind offer.
+
+Friendship is not often formed on the instant, as Jonathan's for David,
+when the soul of Jonathan was knit in a moment with the soul of David,
+and "Jonathan loved him as his own soul."  Albeit the two _had_ met
+before.
+
+They shook hands heartily and went their ways.
+
+Mr. Cosin was the gentleman who had laid his whip across the saucy lout's
+back at the time the French prisoners were marching into the barracks.  He
+was possessed of a fair competence; but loving a country life and
+something to do, had hired the Manor Farm in Yaxley.  The house was of no
+great size, but built of stone, picturesque, and of considerable
+antiquity; and it stood, as we have already said, on the opposite side of
+the road to the church, looking towards the west end, where its handsome
+tower stands, with lofty well-proportioned spire, a conspicuous object to
+all the fen country for miles around.  It was about a mile from the
+Norman Cross barracks.
+
+About two years before this Mr. Cosin had met with the greatest loss that
+can befall a man.  He had lost his wife.  It changed the whole complexion
+of his future.  He was like a traveller who had come to the crest of a
+ridge from which he could look back on the road he had traversed, and the
+unknown future was spread before him, sharply separated from all the
+past.  In his case that had been a happy past--a very happy past.  But
+the future, whatever it might be, must at least be without _her_.  He was
+still a young man, and without a family; but he determined to have a
+sister for his companion, and a sweet memory for his wife.
+
+What a strange idea! many may say, or something stronger.
+
+Well.  It may be so.  But he did it.
+
+When Tournier returned to the barracks after his meeting with Cosin, he
+fell in with his young friend, who has already been alluded to, and whose
+name was Villemet.
+
+"Somebody has been asking after you, Tournier."
+
+"Who was he?" but not the slightest curiosity was in the tone of enquiry.
+
+"Our bishop."
+
+The interest fell lower, if possible.
+
+"You mean the chaplain.  What does he want?"
+
+"To see you."
+
+Tournier was a gentleman, and therefore repressed the exclamation that
+was rising to his lips, and simply said, "Oh!" in a very languid sort of
+way.
+
+But it was true.  The chaplain to the prisoners had been asking after
+Tournier, expressing a very great desire to see him; and the Chaplain was
+none other than the Bishop of Moulines.  He had voluntarily come to
+England, out of pure compassion for his imprisoned countrymen; and with
+true missionary zeal was giving himself up to their spiritual welfare.  He
+was a venerable-looking man, much respected by the prisoners generally.
+It was a noble act of self-sacrifice. {44}
+
+But his work among the prisoners was no sinecure.  Many of them were
+deeply tainted with the foul atheism engendered by the Revolution; many
+more with the practical atheism that comes of reckless living.  Scenes of
+cruelty and depravity would occasionally take place, only too likely
+where a large number of men were left so much to themselves.  Yet there
+were doubtless hundreds among them who, but for the demands of a most
+cruel war, would have been living the lives of peaceful, useful citizens.
+It may be, moreover, that among the officers there was infidelity behind
+the outward decorum of gentlemen.
+
+So the good bishop had plenty on his hands, and he did his best patiently
+and perseveringly, though by no means always with success (as is the case
+still with good efforts, under much more favourable circumstances); and
+all but the vilest respected him, and many paid at least outward
+attention to his ministrations: and for this reason--because they felt
+there could not be the slightest doubt that his kind intentions were
+altogether sincere.
+
+A few days afterwards, the bishop came up to Tournier as he was taking
+exercise in the paved portion of the yard, and shaking him with gentle
+courtesy by the hand, said, "Captain Tournier, will you oblige me by
+letting us have a short walk together?"  Then turning to others who were
+near, he added, with a pleasant smile, "Gentlemen, I hope you are all
+well this morning," and putting his arm in Tournier's went to the gate.
+There was a guard-room and a turnkey's lodge outside.  A glance through
+the grating of the heavy door, and the wicket was instantly unlocked.
+
+They proceeded together along the Peterborough road towards Yaxley.  The
+day was bright, and the broad distant view from the high ground they trod
+was very pretty, with comfortable-looking homesteads dotted about, the
+very picture of freedom and peace.
+
+"The English have chosen an agreeable and healthy spot for us poor
+prisoners, Captain Tournier."
+
+He called himself a "prisoner," but he was not.  And yet he was--a
+prisoner to sympathy with the unhappy.
+
+"May I hope that you are becoming more reconciled with your lot, my
+friend," he said, in a soft persuasive tone, as if he feared to seem
+intrusive.
+
+"Not in the slightest degree, Monseigneur," was the answer.  "Why should
+I?  Yet, believe me, I am exceedingly touched by your interesting
+yourself in me."
+
+"You say _why_ should you become more reconciled with your lot.  My
+simple reply is, because it is God's will."
+
+"I do not wish to shock you--you who are so good and true, and who hold
+so high a position in the church: but I will not deceive you, nor will I
+play the hypocrite even to gain your better opinion of me.  I will be
+plain and honest from the first; and, therefore, I tell you, I do not
+believe there is a God."
+
+The bishop did not withdraw his arm, nor start with horror, nor call him
+a fool (though he _was_ one).  On the contrary, he pressed Tournier's arm
+a little closer, and said, very softly, as a kind doctor might say when
+he finds a patient's symptoms more serious than he thought, but does not
+therefore give him up, "I am so sorry."
+
+There was a pause for a minute or two, and they went on walking together.
+
+Tournier was the first to speak.
+
+"I cannot believe that a good God (and I do not care to believe in an
+evil one--a devil, as the heathen do, so at least I have heard), but I
+cannot believe that a good God would blast my hopes as they have been
+blasted: and, therefore, I believe in none.  I cannot.  Excuse me,
+Monseigneur, but my reason refuses to let me do so.  I can only believe
+in fate."
+
+"And who regulates fate?" asked the bishop.
+
+"Oh, I know not.  It regulates itself, I suppose."
+
+"And therefore is God," said the bishop, as if he were musing.  "But tell
+me, my friend, how it is you take to heart so keenly the unkindness of
+fate (as you call it) to yourself, while thousands are buffeted by
+misfortunes, perhaps as great as your own, and yet maintain equanimity of
+mind, and even enjoy some pleasure in life?"
+
+"They are not sensitive as I am."
+
+"And who makes the difference?"
+
+"Fate--Chance--Destiny."
+
+"How miserable a notion!  However, I should be wanting in my duty to Holy
+Church, of which I am an unworthy minister," and here he disengaged his
+arm from Tournier's, and looking him steadily in the face, with an
+expression, not of severity, but of yearning tenderness, that pierced the
+manly fellow's heart more than a hundred anathemas would have done, "if I
+did not most solemnly warn thee that these notions of thine are damnable
+heresy, and that it behoves thee therefore to repent of this thy
+wickedness, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee."
+
+And then the good bishop took him by the hand and added, "Still look on
+me as a would-be friend, and whenever you want me seek me, and better
+far, whenever you want God seek Him, and you shall surely find Him."
+
+He turned away and went to his lodging, not in the barracks, but in the
+village of Stilton, about a mile off.
+
+Captain Tournier soon lost the impression made by the solemn words, but
+he never to his dying day forgot the compassionate look that accompanied
+them.  The old priest left his mark.
+
+Winter had passed, and Spring was far advanced before Tournier paid his
+first visit to Mr. Cosin.  It was not want of sociability or indifference
+to the friendship of such a very genial man that made him delay.  He
+himself was naturally a very jolly sort of fellow, so that his friend,
+Villemet, could not in the least make out the transformation.  In fact,
+he began to think him _un peu timbre_.  However, at last, he made up his
+mind to call at the Manor Farm; and one sunny day he appeared at the
+door, somewhat like a martyr tied to the stake, but without his
+cheerfulness of resignation.  He had not long to wait.  The door was
+opened with a will, and Cosin himself stood before him with welcome
+beaming in his face.  There could be no doubt of it.  His friend, whom he
+had treated so coldly, was heartily glad to see him, and said as much.
+
+"Can you forgive me, Mr. Cosin, for being so long in accepting your kind
+invitation?"
+
+"Not a word about it.  I am delighted to have you under my roof," and he
+led him into a cosy sitting-room, where a young lady was sitting at work.
+
+"Let me introduce you to my sister, Captain Tournier.  Oh, but you must
+not be so formal, dear Alice, in your welcome to my friend.  I have been
+expecting him too long for that.  Give him your hand."
+
+And she did so in the prettiest way imaginable, with all the simple grace
+of true kindness of heart.
+
+The effect on Tournier was reviving.  It reminded him of happy days gone
+by, which he never thought to see again.
+
+Alice Cosin was a girl worth looking at.  And the gallant captain could
+not refrain from doing so whenever it was possible without rudeness.  And
+if his true love, in France, had been watching him, she would have found
+no fault, if her love were as true as his.  A jealous woman is a
+distrustful one; and a man who makes his own love first will always keep
+her first, however he may admire another.  So it was, at all events, with
+Tournier.
+
+And how shall we describe the young lady?  It shall be done briefly.  She
+was not what connoisseurs would call a beauty.  Her features were not
+altogether regular enough for that, and _very_ regular features are
+rather of the dutch-doll type of beauty.  But her open brow looked
+honesty itself, while a slightly aquiline nose betokened force of
+character of the true feminine type.  The eyes, however, formed the great
+attraction in her face.  You were struck by them at once.  True blue
+eyes, not washed out, not milk and water, but grey-blue eyes, like "the
+body of heaven in its clearness:" yet with a glint in them, as if they
+could flash under just provocation.
+
+They spent a pleasant afternoon together, Cosin doing all he could to
+divert and amuse his friend, and his sister helping him: for they were
+cheerful souls, though Tournier thought he saw at times a vein of sadness
+in his host, amid all his cheerfulness, which, they say, and say truly,
+always adds piquancy to mirth.
+
+A message was brought to Cosin that required him to quit the room, and
+Alice and Tournier were left alone.
+
+"Do you know, Miss Cosin, what it was that forced me at last to come and
+see your brother?"
+
+"Indeed, I do not," she replied, a little surprised at the earnestness
+with which he so abruptly asked the question.
+
+"It was misery.  For months I have kept it to myself, and at last I could
+bear it no longer.  I must have gone mad if I could not have spoken to
+some one outside that wretched prison house."
+
+"I am very glad you have taken the first step towards making my brother
+your confidant.  You will find him a very sensible and sympathizing
+friend."
+
+"Oh, but I want you, Miss Cosin, to give me the first encouragement."
+
+She was inclined at first to laugh, but seeing how serious, and even
+solemn, his manner was, she said, rather severely, "And do you think,
+sir, after so very short an acquaintance, you have any right to expect
+such a thing of me?"
+
+He saw instantly what a mistake he had made, and how naturally she had
+misunderstood his meaning.
+
+"Oh, pardon me, Miss Cosin; my eagerness to know something made me frame
+my words awkwardly.  Let me explain.  I have a dear mother in my home in
+France, and, if possible, a still dearer friend to whom I am engaged, and
+I love her with my whole heart and soul.  I cannot tell you how I love
+her."
+
+"Well, Captain Tournier," said Alice, relaxing her severity of manner,
+though it was not very severe.
+
+"Separation, and hopelessness of ever seeing them again, are a torment I
+find unendurable."
+
+"Well, sir," she repeated, but this time with more softness, and with
+sympathy in the true blue eyes.
+
+"Did not your brother lose his wife some two years ago?  I was told he
+did."
+
+"He did.  But I do not see the relevancy of that to what you have just
+been saying."
+
+"Then your brother has actually suffered what I am only _dreading_ I may
+have to suffer.  He can never, by any possibility, see his wife again."
+
+Poor Alice was sorely puzzled.  She could only wonder what he was coming
+to, and acquiesce.
+
+"But was he really fond of her?"
+
+"I cannot imagine, Captain Tournier, why you should ask such a question.
+I am glad you did not ask _him_."
+
+"Oh, but I have a reason for asking.  Of your charity, bear with me a
+little longer.  But you say he really did love his wife passionately?"
+
+"Beyond all doubt.  His life was bound up in hers.  When he lost her, he
+lost his best.  He tells me he will never marry again, and has asked me
+to be his companion."
+
+There was a tone of impatience in her voice, which Tournier, however,
+noticed not, but passed from his former eagerness of manner into a sort
+of dreamy abstraction, as if talking to himself.
+
+"And yet the man seems happy--_is_ happy; goes about as cheerful as the
+day; laughs and jokes, and enjoys his life.  I cannot comprehend it!"
+
+Alice was indeed in "Wonderland."
+
+He seemed lost in thought.
+
+At length he changed back to his eager manner again.
+
+"And now, Miss Cosin, comes the question: I want you, of your great
+kindness, to answer, and to lead up to which I have given you so much
+trouble.  Pardon, pardon an unhappy man.  Tell me, what is the secret of
+your brother's power to bear his trouble, and even triumph over it.  I
+want, _myself_, to learn it."
+
+"I can only say," replied Alice, with all simplicity, but looking with
+her clear blue eyes into his face, "I know God helped him, as no one else
+could, and was very kind to him, as He is to all who want Him."
+
+She was only just in time, for, as she finished, her brother came back
+again.
+
+Soon after they took leave of each other, and the captain returned to his
+quarters.  And as he went along this thought kept coming into his mind,
+like the flash of a revolving light--"Cosin not only believes in God, but
+has found Him a help in time of greatest trouble!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.--MUTINY OF THE PRISONERS.
+
+
+In the course of the following year, the prisoners of Norman Cross began
+to show a spirit of general insubordination.  There had been from time to
+time individual cases of attempted outbreak, some few successful, but for
+the most part ending in recapture.  No one can wonder that, among so many
+men, in the full vigour of life, there should be not a few who, sick at
+heart of their rigorous captivity, one day succeeding another with
+cheerless monotony, the shadows settling deeper and deeper upon their
+distant homes, should listen by degrees to any scheme that the more
+desperate around them might propose in order to regain their liberty.  The
+growing agitation was almost entirely among the lower ranks of soldiers
+and sailors, although the officers, in their separate quarters, knew what
+was going on, and more or less sympathized with it.
+
+There was, however, a particular reason for this state of things.  It did
+not originate it, but had a great deal to do with aggravating it.  The
+prisoners, especially the rank and file, were not in the hands of a
+sympathetic controller.  It was with them, as it sometimes is now, with
+large institutions where numbers are collected.  The governor may be an
+excellent disciplinarian, and do his duty admirably; but the inmates
+never feel, consciously or unconsciously, that there is one over them who
+takes an _interest_ in their welfare.  They are in the cold, and, like
+plants, no one is likely to grow better in the cold.  Such was the
+character of the administration of Captain Mortimer, the Admiralty agent.
+He had charge of the comforts of the prisoners; he treated them well
+according to the letter of his duty; but it was with coldness and want of
+sympathy.  And what he did, as is always the case, his subordinates did
+likewise.  And there can be little doubt that this coldness of treatment
+had much to do with the increase of insubordination in the prison.
+
+Victor Malin was a ringleader from the first in this matter.  He was
+about forty years old; and, as a young man, had taken an active part in
+all the diabolical horrors of the streets of Paris during the reign of
+terror.  He had seen Louis XVI. guillotined, and a few months later the
+poor Queen, and had screamed with joy over it.  He had seen heads cut off
+by the score, and enjoyed his dinner all the more for the sight.  He was
+therefore a brute, a great big brute, with plenty of animal courage; and
+there was no wickedness under the sun that he had not practised in his
+time.  He was also one of the very few among the prisoners who insulted
+the venerable chaplain when he could, though all the notice the good man
+took of it was to mutter to himself, "N'importe."
+
+The days were getting short and the nights long when, one evening, a
+council of war was being held in one of the barrack rooms.  Not all the
+inmates were engaged in it, but only a select few, round one of the
+tables at the end of the huge caserne.  By far the greater part (and
+there must have been over two hundred crowded together in it,) were
+amusing themselves in various ways, so far as a very limited choice would
+allow.  But a Frenchman will beat an Englishman hollow in finding
+amusement out of little or nothing; aye, and enjoying it too with lively
+satisfaction.  Some were busy at work over the manufacture of those
+singularly ingenious models, toys, boxes, and other articles, for sale,
+which are so well known and so justly admired all round the
+neighbourhood, and found in almost every house to this day.  These were
+the quiet and sensible men, who made the best of their misfortunes.
+Others were playing dominoes, draughts, backgammon, and cribbage, the
+boards and appliances all their own work.  Some sang songs to a small
+admiring audience.  All talked and at the same time, and nowhere more
+than where card-playing was going on, which was all over the room, and
+the more vociferously because, if they could, they played for money or
+money's worth, from a penny to an old shirt, or blanket, or even the next
+day's rations.
+
+The noise was deafening.  Yet amidst it all the council of war went on
+deliberating as calmly as if they were chatting together in some peaceful
+meadow, with only the chirping of birds to disturb them.  They literally
+put their heads together, as, figuratively, conspirators always do, and
+so made one another hear.
+
+They were a sorry lot, both in face and clothing.  Not one had a decent
+set of garments on him.  The only difference between the soldiers and the
+sailors who composed the council was--the soldiers' clothes were in rags,
+while the sailors mended theirs.  In face they were all alike unsavoury,
+but Victor Malin "took the cake."
+
+"Comrades," he was saying, leaning forward and speaking with a harsh
+powerful voice into the space between the bowed heads of the others,
+where, by the way, there must have been some blue fire playing:
+"Comrades, we must not follow the advice of our brother Poivre there.
+Delay with us is dangerous.  Every day makes it more likely that these
+soldiers,"--there was an adjective prefixed, a favourite one, applied by
+him to almost everything--"will find out what we are planning.  The dark
+nights, now there is no moon, will favour us when once we get away.  Now
+or never is the word.  The men in all the other yards are waiting for the
+red flag to be hoisted over our prison.  To-morrow morning, at daybreak,
+let us begin."
+
+Marc Poivre, the man he had alluded to, was a tall, lank fellow, with
+muscles of iron, and sunken fiery eyes, that betokened a fierce temper
+which would not brook much contradiction.
+
+"I say, wait!" was his sententious reply.
+
+"What for?" said Malin.
+
+"Till the days get shorter still.  Till we know more for certain that the
+others are ready.  Till the soldiers have lost the suspicions they
+certainly have, that something is up.  Only to-day I heard one of the red-
+coats say to his fellow, 'When are they going to kick up a row?'  You
+know, yourself, Malin, they have doubled the guard all round."
+
+"Are you afraid?" sneered Malin.
+
+The sunken eyes burned.  But it was not the time for quarrelling: so
+Poivre restrained himself, and only said, "I will answer you another
+time.  Begin to-morrow if you will.  Have your own way.  I am content."
+
+All the others agreed to this, for Poivre was not popular among them.  He
+was too fond of brawling; and most councils, especially small ones, are
+ruled by personal prejudices of some sort, rather than by honest,
+independent opinion.
+
+Then all the councillors got on their legs, and shouted, "Silence!
+Silence!"
+
+It took some little time to get it owing to the babel that was going on.
+At last they prevailed, and then Malin addressed those present in his
+stentorian voice:
+
+"Brothers!  Our captivity will end to-morrow.  It will be our own fault
+if we are not all free men before another sun sets.  Then many hours of
+darkness will befriend us.  Hide by day and hurry on by night.  Make for
+the sea, but not all in the same direction.  With the first light of day,
+our companions, all over the prison, will see the red flag flying.  Then
+shout!  Shout every one of you.  Keep on shouting! and the walls of our
+jail will fall down flat."
+
+"Like the walls of Jericho," cried a derisive voice.  Some said Poivre's.
+Malin knew it was, and did not forget it.  But it damped his ardour for a
+moment, though the prisoners were too numerous to hear, or too interested
+to heed it.
+
+"To-morrow!  Liberty!" was all the mighty voice of Malin could add; and
+then an outburst of cheers followed that made the red tiles of the long
+roof rattle.
+
+The morning broke; and then, sure enough, the guards observed the red
+flag waving in the breeze.  They had not long to wait before the meaning
+of it was made plain.  A tremendous shout arose from the yard where the
+flag was hoisted, and then an answering shout from each of the other
+yards in succession, till they all blended in one continuous roar from
+more than three thousand throats.  If it subsided in part, or altogether,
+for a few moments, it quickly broke out again.  The turnkeys, looking
+through the gratings of the wickets, saw the prisoners leaping and
+jumping about in the greatest state of excitement (and when a Frenchman
+is excited, he is excited indeed); and in some of the yards they had
+evidently got tools and implements which must have been brought in by
+outsiders.
+
+Major Kelly was promptly on the spot, and at once saw that the situation
+was threatening.  It was not the uproar that alarmed him.  That, alone,
+could do no harm, except to the throats of the shouters, though it
+betrayed the fact that the whole of the prisoners were taking part in the
+rising.  What he feared most was the possession of tools by the
+prisoners, and the consequent danger that, if any sufficient opening were
+made in one or more of the outer palisades, a considerable number of
+prisoners might get out, and much bloodshed take place.  This his humane
+nature shrank from.
+
+The force under his command consisted, at that particular time, of only a
+regiment of militia, and a battalion of the army reserve, about eleven
+hundred bayonets.  The whole of these were immediately under arms, and
+ordered to surround the enclosure in detachments, with instructions to
+combine at any point where there seemed any signs of an opening being
+made by the prisoners.
+
+Major Kelly then proceeded to consult with his senior officers and
+Captain Mortimer.  The question was not whether he had force enough to
+put down the mutiny by violent measures, but whether there were men
+enough to do it without considerable effusion of blood.
+
+Captain Mortimer at once shewed his quality when asked for his opinion.
+"Put it down, major," he said, "with a strong hand, and lose no time
+about it.  What I venture to recommend is, first of all send a shot from
+the block-house into one of the prison yards by way of warning; then
+march two or three hundred men right into the yard; draw them up, and let
+them shoot every rascal that does not take shelter in the barrack-room.
+Give them time.  Then let an officer go to the door with a bugler, and
+tell the _canaille_, if they don't at once leave off their infernal noise
+and keep quietly inside, they will be shot down like rats: then fasten up
+the door.  Depend on it, this will soon settle the other yards.  One
+example will be enough.  A rough beginning will make a speedy ending."
+
+"But these men," said Major Kelly sternly, and with evident disgust, "are
+not rascals, they are not to be treated as _canaille_.  The only crime
+they are guilty of is fighting for their country.  That they want to
+escape, however foolish, is only natural.  Of course they must be put
+down, even if it should cost some lives: but I should prefer trying
+milder measures first.  What do you say, gentlemen?"
+
+The other officers all fell in with their commander's idea: for, as a
+rule, the majority of officers partake of the spirit of their chief
+without any subserviency; and thus, as we so often find, a Colonel makes
+or mars his regiment.
+
+"Then we must have help from Peterborough," said the Major.  "Take a
+message from me, Captain Martin, to the officer in command there.  Say
+that I want all the men he can spare, and specially every troop of
+yeomanry he can muster, for we may have to scour the country.  My horse
+shall be at the main gate in ten minutes--you know he is a good one; and
+you, Captain, like a fair pace."
+
+The gallant Captain smiled as he saluted, and in less than ten minutes he
+was in the saddle and flying like a meteor along the road, for he was a
+very Jehu.
+
+The stone steps by which the officers mounted are still to be seen where
+the main entrance was.
+
+And what were the French and other officers doing all this time?
+
+They had all along known of the intended outbreak, and urgent requests
+had in some way been made to them that they would take part in it.  But
+with some few exceptions, they had positively refused.  Not, however,
+without much acrimonious debate.  Those who were in favour of joining in
+the mutiny were some captains of privateers, whose sense of honour was
+not rendered more acute by their manner of life, and two or three army
+officers of indifferent character, who had either abused their parole, or
+never obtained it.
+
+A night or two before the crisis, the dispute became very violent.
+
+"What a shame," cried one of the malcontents, "that we, who are ready for
+anything to get free, should be hindered by you careful and very
+scrupulous gentlemen!"
+
+"We are not hindering you," replied Villemet: "get out if you can
+whenever you like.  We heartily wish all the prisoners may get out.  None
+of us will interfere."
+
+"But you will not help us: and not to help is to hinder."
+
+"And we have told you why a score of times," put in Tournier in the
+quietest possible way.  "The English have deprived us of liberty, but
+they shall never deprive us of honour.  We are on parole, and we are
+bound in honour, therefore, not to try and escape even if we could."
+
+"Honour!" said a privateer captain, turning up his nose in a very
+pronounced manner.
+
+"Yes, sir, honour!  Perhaps you do not know the meaning of the word."
+
+The nose went down, and the temper went up.  "I do, sir, quite as much as
+you.  But I don't call truckling to the enemy honour."
+
+"Nor do I," said Tournier.
+
+The perfect quietness of his manner provoked the other more than any
+angry words would have done.
+
+"But that's what you are doing--truckling to the English."
+
+The malcontents applauded.
+
+This emboldened him to go on.  "You are traitors to your own countrymen."
+
+"You know," said Tournier calmly, "I cannot treat you for that insult as
+I would if free--that is, if it were not beneath me to notice it from one
+like you."
+
+He sprung up and struck Tournier.
+
+They all sprung up.  Tournier himself sprung up.  A general fight seemed
+imminent.  But the greater part were gentlemen, and Tournier, still calm,
+said with a smile, "Take no notice of it, my friends.  Let us withdraw.
+At least we will bear away the palm of victory over our tempers."
+
+The malcontents were disconcerted at this magnanimity.
+
+Only Villemet would have a parting shot, and as he retired, said, "If
+ever I meet that _coquin_ outside these cursed walls, I'll horsewhip him
+black and blue."
+
+The man was making for Villemet, but his companions pulled him back.
+
+Within an hour Captain Martin had returned with a troop of yeomanry.  They
+had just had a field-day, and for some reason, one of the troops had not
+been dismissed like the rest.  So, without waiting a moment, officers and
+men galloped off to Norman Cross.  The other troops of yeomanry were to
+follow as soon as they could be got together, along with three or four
+companies of volunteers and militia.
+
+The tumult was still continuing among the prisoners, though with more
+frequent spells of comparative quiet: symptoms, perhaps, of exhaustion.
+No opening had yet been discovered in the palisades, though the soldiers
+thought they sometimes heard, when a lull in the uproar occurred, the
+sound of heavy blows against them, which almost directly ceased when the
+uproar abated.  And it made some entertain the idea, that the otherwise
+childish shouting was not without a rational object, namely, to drown the
+noise of blows.
+
+At length darkness came on.  It promised to be an intensely dark
+night--one of those nights, of which there are only a few in every year,
+when you cannot, as we say, see your own hand.
+
+Watch-fires were kindled at every station where a detachment was posted
+round the prison enclosure.  All the troops were under arms through the
+night; the gunners in the block-house ready for action; and the yeomanry
+patrolling the Peterborough and Great North roads.  At about three in the
+morning a sentinel fired his piece, and the nearest detachment fell in,
+and hurried at the double to the spot.  The prisoners were escaping
+through an opening in one of the palisades, but the prompt arrival of the
+soldiers quickly stopped the exodus.  Some were thrust back again, and an
+array of bayonets at the charge, together with a volley from the rear
+ranks, fired, at first, by the commandant's express orders, into the air,
+effectually prevented all further attempt.  Nine prisoners escaped, and
+got clear away, surmounting the difficulty of the last palisading of all
+by friendly help from outside, as it was supposed, a rope with a hook at
+the end being found next morning at a certain spot.  In all probability
+it was a sweet-heart's act, some acquaintance formed at the barrack
+market.
+
+Several other openings were made, but the soldiers, after the first
+alarm, were so much on the alert, that hardly any more escaped.
+Altogether less than a score got clear away, besides the nine already
+mentioned; but how they managed to get over the last palisade was a
+mystery, except there were, as in the other case, assistance from
+without, though no trace of it was discovered.  Sad to relate, however,
+more than half of those who obtained their freedom were recaptured after
+a few days, some of them a long way off from Norman Cross.
+
+One other attempt at escape deserves to be recorded, because it was
+planned with skill and daring worthy of a better result.  In the barrack-
+yard where Malin was confined, there happened to be several sappers, and
+they had dug a mine, with very imperfect tools, some thirty-four feet in
+length, towards the Great North Road, but unfortunately it fell short of
+the required distance, and the men were found when daylight broke still
+within the outer wall of the prison.
+
+So ended the only general outbreak that was ever made by the prisoners of
+Norman Cross; and Major Kelly could ever after enjoy the immense
+satisfaction of reflecting that the suppression of so serious an attempt
+was brought about without a drop of blood.
+
+As an instance of the extreme peril they ran who contrived to escape, it
+is recorded on a tombstone in the Churchyard of East Dereham, how Jean de
+Narde, son of a Notary Public of St. Malo, a French prisoner of war (most
+likely from Norman Cross), escaped from the Bell Tower of the Church
+(where he had been confined temporarily on his re-capture), and was
+pursued and shot by a soldier on duty October 6th, 1799, aged 28 years.
+Oh, why did not that stupid fool of a soldier miss him!
+
+But it is pleasant to add that, in the year 1857, when French and English
+were fighting side by side in the Crimea, the then Vicar and two friends
+erected a tombstone as a memorial of poor de Narde's untimely fate, and
+"as a tribute of respect to that brave and generous Nation, once our
+foes, but now our allies and brethren."  And they add the words which all
+but those who make profit out of war will heartily echo and re-echo,
+"Ainsi soit il."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.--NEARLY A SUICIDE.
+
+
+An important change took place in the management of the barracks at
+Norman Cross a few months after the event narrated in the preceding
+chapter.  Captain Mortimer, the admiralty agent, resigned his position
+there on promotion to another charge.  Whether the relations between him
+and Major Kelly became rather strained, or whether he himself was a
+little ashamed of the violent measures he had recommended to suppress the
+mutiny, and which certainly had made him more unpopular than ever, cannot
+be determined.  But resign he did in the month of August, 1811, and was
+succeeded by Captain John Draper, R.N.  The exchange was a blessed one
+for the prisoners: not because the important duties were done more
+punctually and exactly, but because the one was a sympathising man, and
+the other a mere machine.  There was all the difference between the two
+men that there is between the music of a street piano that rattles
+through long runs with provoking correctness, and a sweet air played by
+the fair hands of one whose soul is in her music.
+
+The prisoners felt the relief before they knew whence it came, as men
+breathing the close atmosphere of a crowded room may feel invigorated
+before they know that a supply of pure oxygen has been introduced
+therein.  It was not that they fared any better than before.  They had
+the same rations, though the new agent saw with his own eyes that they
+were good and sufficient.  They had the same cramped-up sleeping bunks,
+only he never let a man be without proper covering, even if he punished
+him afterwards if he gambled it away.  They were still prisoners, hard
+and fast; yet, somehow, the bondage was not so galling as it used to be.
+The agent's manner was kind and friendly.  He spoke cheerily to the
+prisoners.  He asked questions.  He took notice of the desponding, and
+there were many such.  The sick he tenderly cared for.  This was to the
+ordinary rank and file.  To the officers he was all this and more.  Not
+because he cared more for them, but because, as a rule, he could unbend
+to them more than to the others without risk of lowering his position.  He
+frequently visited their quarters, chatted freely with them, played
+billiards with them, was pleased to see the English officers mix at
+proper times with them, admired heartily the beautiful handiwork of the
+common men.  The only man he could not abide was the one who, whether
+officer or private, was a fraud or a sham.
+
+And in this treatment of his unfortunate charge the Commandant entirely
+went along with him.
+
+War was still raging.  That in the Peninsula--which so many now-a-days
+know nothing about, but prefer "Tit-Bits," or the writings of sceptical
+ladies, but in which the most splendid generalship and indomitable
+bravery were displayed on _both_ sides as in no other country, and which
+formed one of the hinges on which the fortune of Napoleon turned, the
+other being the ice-bound plains of Russia--was pouring fresh prisoners
+into England (20,000 in ten months is the number once mentioned in a
+despatch of Wellington's), and no doubt Norman Cross had its share.  But
+for all who arrived there Captain Draper had a friendly look, and for
+many a word of kindness.
+
+He had not been long at his post before he became acquainted with Captain
+Tournier; and his sympathy for him, quickly awakened, was all the more
+increased by what he heard from Major Kelly.  They both soon had more
+reason than ever to be drawn to him.
+
+There was a French agency in London, sanctioned by the English
+government, through which prisoners of war had under certain restrictions
+the means of communication with their friends abroad.  Tournier had from
+the first, as we may be sure, availed himself of this privilege.  From
+his mother's letters he could not hide from himself the fact that his
+absence from her, under such melancholy circumstances, was prejudicially
+affecting her health.  The dear old soul always tried to make the best of
+it, but nature would out, although it was more from indirect remarks than
+from any positive complaints, that Tournier gathered the true state of
+the case.  Of course it grieved him exceedingly, and added fresh
+poignancy to his unhappiness.  But there was one thing that, for the
+first two years, her letters always contained in one form or another,
+that made some sweet amends, and that was that she invariably added how
+his dear Elise soothed and comforted her.  "Whenever I see her," his
+mother would write, "I seem to see you; and she says the same of me."
+
+For the last few months, however, Tournier could not but observe, but
+most unwillingly, there had been a gradual cessation of these fond
+remarks in his mother's letters, and, worse still, a corresponding
+chilliness in those of his Elise.  At first, it was "How weary it is
+without you!" then, "How can I go on living without you?" then, "How long
+will it be before I shall see you?"  This is not a romantic way of
+putting it; but the downward progress of a woman's heart that is not
+true, does not deserve romantic description.  The auctioneer's formula is
+quite good enough, "Going--going--gone."
+
+Still the man who loved her with true and generous affection could not,
+and would not, believe evil.  "Poor dear heart," he would say; "she is
+indeed to be pitied!  How can she help being weary of my absence so
+long?"
+
+And here it must not fail to be recorded, that Tournier was no longer the
+same man that he had been when first he arrived at Norman Cross--a proud,
+bitterly disappointed, sensitive, angry man, who had lost what little
+faith he ever had in God.  He was still a faulty character, no doubt.
+Poor erring men do not leap into perfection at a bound.  But the
+revolving light that first sent forth its rays into his mind, some two
+years ago, in Cosin's house, had gone on revolving till it became a
+settled and influential conviction--that God is good, and will help all
+who want Him, even in their direst need.  _How_ good and _how_ mighty to
+save God was, he had yet to learn: but that He _was_ good, and that He
+would help _him_, that he firmly believed.  And who had done it for
+him--this miracle, if you like to call it?--God.  By weak human
+instrumentality, by degrees: but yet God: for none else could have done
+it.
+
+It made him stronger, much stronger, to bear the bitter trouble that yet
+oppressed him day by day.  It made him hope on, even in the dark.  It
+gave him an object in life, when all he once had lived for seemed swept
+away.
+
+The reality of his belief was before long put to a very severe test.  A
+letter from his mother arrived one day.  The unusually shaky hand-writing
+of the address instantly struck him, and a horrible dread that something
+was wrong seized him.  It might have turned out nothing after all, for
+where we remember one presentiment that turns out true, we forget twenty
+that turn out false.  But in this case it possessed him.  He had been
+very far from well for some time past.  In fact, the three years of
+prison life, and its attendant anxieties, were telling on him.  He was
+lying on a sofa, which his friend at the farm had sent to the prison for
+him, when the letter was put in his hand.  "I cannot read this here," he
+muttered, and hurried out of the room, and thence into the road.  Taking
+the way towards Yaxley, he almost ran down a lane that turned towards
+Whittlesea mere to a favourite spot by the water, where he had often gone
+fishing with Cosin (for it was deep there), and was very secluded.  He
+called it his _sanctuaire_.  Flinging himself down, he tore open the
+letter with trembling hands, and began to read:--
+
+"Oh, my dear, dear son!  How can I write what I have to say to you?  The
+good God give you strength to bear it like a man.  Elise has run away
+from her home.  Your friend, Colonel Fontenoy, has been staying in our
+neighbourhood, having recovered from his wounds: and made love to her in
+spite of the opposition of her family (you know what a handsome man he
+is), and by this time they are married in Paris . . ."
+
+Whether Tournier got as far as this, no one could say.  He was found some
+hours after with the letter crumpled up in his hand, lying lifeless on
+the green turf.
+
+But what had been going on during the interval between his beginning the
+letter and his swooning away?  One thing was most certain: The footsteps
+leading to the brink of the water, again and again repeated, were signs
+of an awful struggle between the impulse to get free from the troubles of
+this life (though not of the next), and the determination to trust in God
+and do the right.
+
+His fellow-prisoners had noticed his agitated manner and hasty departure
+after receiving the letter, and when he did not return to the barracks
+for some hours, they communicated with the officer of the guard, who lost
+no time in informing the Commandant.  Major Kelly fancied Tournier might
+be with his friend at the Manor Farm, but, not being quite easy about it,
+he went there himself.
+
+"Oh," said Cosin, "I'll be bound he is at his favourite haunt.  The
+prison is not the place to read love-letters in.  He always goes there
+when he wants to be alone.  Shall we go and see, major?"
+
+There, as has been said, they found him.  The first impression was that
+he was dead.  And no wonder: he looked so like it.  But closer
+examination shewed that life was still in him.  As quickly as possible
+they obtained a light cart, and tenderly placed the body in it--Cosin
+supporting the head--and gently drove away.
+
+"I wish you would allow me to take him to my house," said Cosin: "it is
+nearer than the barracks; and by the look of the poor, dear fellow, he
+will not bear much shaking, and--I should so like to have him."
+
+The major thought a minute, and said, "Perhaps you are right.  It is
+nearer and quieter than the barracks.  I can authorise you to take charge
+of him, though Draper may be jealous of you."
+
+So they brought him to the Manor House, and carried him upstairs with
+utmost care, and placed him in Cosin's own room, for none other was
+ready, and put him to bed.
+
+He was still unconscious, and no restoratives they applied to the best of
+their ability had any effect.  Would he ever wake up again?
+
+Meanwhile, a doctor was sent for post-haste.  Those at the barracks were
+all English, of whom Mr. Vise, of Stilton, was chief; and he, happening
+to be there at the time, instantly drove to the Manor House.
+
+"Brain fever," said the doctor, after careful examination of the patient:
+"and a very bad case too I fear.  It is of course too early to speak
+positively as yet: but so far as I see at present, I should say it is
+extremely improbable that he will ever regain consciousness.  Perfect
+quietude is all-essential to him.  His life depends on it.  He must have
+had intense irritation of the brain, and some shock must have supervened
+to bring him to the state in which I find him.  What is that paper
+clutched so tightly in his hand?" he added.  "It may explain something."
+And then, with a doctor's skill, he succeeded in disengaging from his
+grasp the fatal letter, and read it.
+
+"There is the explanation, at least in part."
+
+Each of the others read the letter so far as was needful, but, like
+gentlemen, no further.  And Cosin understood it all better than the
+others could.
+
+Full directions were given by the doctor as to treatment, and his last
+words were, "You must never leave him for a minute night nor day; and if
+he wake--_if_ he wake--let nothing on any account excite him."
+
+No doubt the doctor was right in theory, but medical directions are
+sometimes more easy to give than to carry out.
+
+The doctor then drove away with Major Kelly, having first ascertained
+that Alice Cosin had sent for the best nurse in the village, who,
+wonderful to say, was a very good one.
+
+Soon after they had left, Villemet came hurrying to the house, having
+obtained leave from the major.  He seemed to have run all the way.
+
+"You are the very man I want," said Cosin.
+
+"Do let me see him," cried the other, all out of breath.
+
+"You shall directly, only you must restrain your feelings, and on no
+account disturb him.  He is so ill, it would kill him outright if you
+did."
+
+And he told him why it was he was so glad he had come: because, if their
+friend chanced to arouse, it would not excite him so much to see
+Villemet, as it would to see any one else.  "I only wish you could stop
+all night," he added.
+
+"So I can.  The major said I might if you wanted me; but I did not like
+to intrude myself upon you."
+
+And they two kept watch all through the night, hearing the church-clock,
+close by, strike every hour; Cosin keeping out of sight, and Villemet
+sitting where the eyes of the patient might more easily see him, should
+they ever open again.
+
+The fever increased.  Restlessness began.  Then a murmur, very faint,
+startled them; but it was nothing.  Louder and articulate words came
+next; and delirium set in, lasting many weary hours.  He was in
+France--always in France.  He spoke of his mother; was talking to her:
+called her by name.  But he never once mentioned the name Elise.
+
+A tear came into Villemet's eye when he heard his poor friend express his
+joy at seeing his mother--he thought of his own--but he dashed it away.
+Why be ashamed, strong man?  It becomes the brave to weep sometimes.  Only
+noodles never do so.  There must be brains to produce tears, and a heart
+too: and noodles have neither.
+
+This went on for many hours.  They wanted Villemet to take some rest, but
+he refused.  He dosed in his chair, but the slightest sound awoke him: a
+sentinel at the shrine of friendship.  At length, on the third day in the
+early morning, the eyes of the sick man opened, and fully rested on the
+familiar face of his friend.  Instantly, but without any startling haste,
+Villemet was on his knee beside him, looking at him with a placid smile,
+as if nothing had happened.
+
+"I have been so happy.  I have been to France, and seen the old place--and
+my mother.  But is it not strange?  I never saw her, E--."  And the eyes
+closed again, and the voice sank out.
+
+Some hours of unconsciousness followed, but with decreasing restlessness.
+The doctor gave hope.  Only he again warned them that the next waking
+would be the critical one.  "Whatever you do," he said, "keep him, if you
+can, from reverting to the past as long as possible."
+
+Yet it so happened that the next time Tournier aroused, Villemet was out
+of the room, and Cosin had taken his place.  The afternoon sun was
+lighting up his face with a slanting ray as he sat by the bedside and
+looked toward the window; and when he turned his eyes again on his
+friend, he could hardly refrain from starting.  Tournier was gazing on
+him with a look of intense earnestness.
+
+"Where am I?"
+
+"You are on a visit to me, and have been very ill, and I want you to go
+to sleep again, and not think about anything."
+
+"But do you know," said Tournier, making a feeble effort to put out his
+hand, which his friend gently took, "that when I first woke up, such
+horrid thoughts came into my mind! but I caught sight of your face, and
+they went away."
+
+"That's right.  Now take this nourishment, and try to sleep again.  We
+shall have plenty of time to talk when you are stronger, and I shall be
+always close by."
+
+It would be wearisome to describe at any length the various stages of
+recovery: for recover he did, and became as strong and vigorous as ever.
+No little share had Alice Cosin in bringing this about, though in that
+unobtrusive, and often unknown, way in which dear, kind women work, for
+she was one of those who had the mark of the true lady in her household
+duties.  She knew everything, and saw to everything, and did anything
+that would make the household comfortable.
+
+And when Tournier got strong enough to think and converse without
+restraint, he told Cosin, with great emotion, the terrible nature of that
+struggle he had had beside the water of the mere before they found him,
+and what it was God had made use of to save him.
+
+"I cannot describe," he said, "the hell that rose up within me when I
+read that she was married.  I rushed to the water (I knew it was deep
+there,) in furious passion, to fling myself in.  It was not fear that
+stopped me--never in my life was I afraid of anything--it was a voice,
+not outside me, but within: a voice that was more distinct to me than a
+bell tolled close to my ear, and all the more because it never reached me
+through the ear; it reached my brain though, aye, and my heart.  And it
+said, 'God is good.  God can help.'  Over and over again I rushed to the
+water to drown myself, and over and over again that voice within stopped
+me at the brink.  Oh, it was frightful! but God _was_ good, and God _did_
+help me."
+
+Many a time after this did the friends converse together, in their walks,
+when they rode out, and as they sat at the fire-side; and without any
+affectation of superior wisdom, yet, when Tournier at any time appeared
+to flag or grow weary in bearing up under his still severe trials, Cosin
+would cheer him by telling him, out of the fulness of his own heart, that
+all hopeless trouble came from trying to live without God, and that no
+one is really wise who thinks he knows better than He.
+
+And when, on one occasion, Tournier was much depressed, because he had
+asked himself a question which every man must one day ask, if he means to
+be truly happy, though some, by God's grace, learn the answer before they
+know the immensity of it.
+
+"I cannot understand how it is that God can be so good to such imperfect,
+nay, I will out with the word, sinful creatures as we are?  I am afraid I
+have made use of religious jargon, like many others."
+
+"My dear fellow," replied Cosin, "God is good to all; but we have no
+right to _claim_ any share in His goodness except through _Christ_.  If
+we left that out it would be jargon indeed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.--A DUEL AND TWO DEATHS.
+
+
+Victor Malin and Marc Poivre hated each other with perfect hatred.  But
+there was this peculiarity in their mutual animosity: it was
+intermittent.  One day they would be glaring at each other like wild
+beasts; the next, they would be walking in the prison-yard arm in arm,
+singing bacchanalian songs, as inseparable chums.  Their relations had
+not improved since the riot, for Malin had lost credit with the other
+prisoners since the failure of it, and laid the blame on Poivre for
+making fun of him, while there rankled, deep in Poivre's breast, the
+recollection that Malin had as good as called him a coward.
+
+It was in one of the intermittent periods, when they were bosom friends
+again, that, on a certain evening, they were playing cards together.  The
+stakes were high for them, for each had a little money just then, the
+result of the sale of some fancy work of theirs, at which they were very
+clever, though they did not often condescend to take the trouble.  Malin
+had made the model of a guillotine out of a beef bone, and Poivre some
+dominoes, dice, and box of similar material.
+
+The luck, as we say, had run all along in favour of Poivre.  Malin was
+becoming savage.  He lost all his money, then his next day's rations,
+then his shirt (not worth much).  Poivre was one of those gamblers who
+take infernal delight in heaping on the agony when their opponent loses
+his temper badly.  He made the other furious by pretending to pity him
+for his ill-fortune; and when he got down to the shirt, calmly suggested
+whether there was not something else he had that he might stake in order
+to regain his luck.
+
+"You'd take my soul," cried Malin, with an oath so loud and frightful, or
+rather such a volley of them, that the other men in the room came
+crowding around them.
+
+"Not worth anything," replied Poivre; "can't see it."
+
+"It's worth as much as yours."
+
+"That's not saying much."
+
+The atmosphere was thick with oaths, and as oaths and devils go together,
+the atmosphere must have been of a sulphureous nature, as it always is at
+such times, though we may not notice it.
+
+"Don't talk to me, _poltron_!" cried Malin.
+
+"That's the second time you have called me so," said Poivre, starting up,
+his temper rising at a bound to "stormy," and shaking his fist at the
+other.
+
+"And not the last!" shouted Malin, glad to find the other as angry as
+himself.  "I tell you, you are a _poltron_, before all these gentlemen.
+You have no more courage than a rabbit, and no more spirit than an old
+woman.  You ran away at Talavera.  You did all you could to make us
+afraid the night before we struck for liberty.  You--"
+
+"Liar!" screamed Poivre: "to-morrow I will prove it on your great big
+carcase.  Valentin, my friend, come with me."
+
+A gentleman of not very prepossessing appearance responded to the call.
+
+Most of the prisoners were delighted.  It was the prospect of a little
+amusement, of which they did not enjoy much.
+
+The formalities of a duel were gone through with the utmost possible
+punctilio.  The seconds arranged that, as there were no swords to be had,
+the principals should fight with knives fastened to short sticks, with
+guards and handles.  And as this took up time, it was agreed to put off
+the duel to sunrise on the second day.  So all the next they were shaping
+and sharpening the knives with the best tools they had; and some
+armourers, who happened to belong to their yard, helped them.
+
+Warning was given in the common room that night that there should be as
+little noise and talking as possible on the part of the prisoners, lest
+the soldiers on guard should hear it, and be led to interfere.
+
+So, as soon as it was light, the two men, Malin and Poivre, were
+standing, like two fools, in due position, and in that part of the yard
+which was furthest from the gates, ready, as soon as the signal was
+given, to try and cut each other to pieces.
+
+Yet, were they greater fools than they who fight with better weapons?  We
+may admire their pluck, but we cannot admire their sense.  A duel proves
+nothing but that each is a brave man, except it be the duel between
+French political adversaries in these days, when one pricks the other,
+and both are satisfied!
+
+But they have saluted and begun.  At first they eyed each other steadily,
+and made feints, and changed their ground.  And this went on so long that
+at last some irreverent bystander, longing to see business done, cried
+out, "Allons, mes amis, avancez."  And at that moment a skilful thrust
+from Malin wounded Poivre in the face, and the first blood was drawn.  But
+Malin received it back with interest, for Poivre, who was a tall and very
+muscular man, beat down the other's guard, and laid open his bare head.
+And then both slashed and gashed away without any attempt at guarding,
+till the disgusting spectacle was ended by Malin dropping down, like a
+fat pig cut up before he was killed.
+
+The guards came up, and the doctor was sent for.  They were both removed
+to the prison hospital.  But there was nothing to be done for Malin.  His
+gross habit of body, from years of dissipation, made his many wounds
+fatal.  He died the next day.  The good chaplain visited him--but he was
+insensible.
+
+Poivre remained some time in hospital, and listened respectfully to the
+bishop; but when he came out he was received as a hero, and that soon
+drowned reflection.  So hard is it to turn to God one who has for years
+forsaken Him.  It is not impossible, and there is good reason for saying
+so; but it is not probable, for experience teaches us that such is the
+case.
+
+* * * * *
+
+There was a young man in hospital at the same time as Poivre, in an
+advanced stage of consumption.  Nature had never intended him to be a
+soldier.  He was a sturdy, well-made, good-looking young fellow, but with
+the hidden seeds of that fell disease in his constitution which only
+waited development.  Had he been let alone in his little heritage in the
+sunny south of France, he might have lived happily to at least a fair
+age: but conscription, mercilessly enforced, not for defence of country,
+but to gratify the satanic ambition of one man, seized upon him, and he
+became a soldier, sorely against his will, in one of the armies of the
+Peninsula.
+
+It is always a marvel how men could stand the wear and tear of those
+seven years of incessant warfare in that country.  Yet the veteran
+soldiers of France and England did stand it, and many lived to tell the
+tale in after years to their children in quiet resting-places.  But how
+many, who survived, came home when all was over to suffer to their dying
+day the effects of over-taxed energies?
+
+Such was the case, though taken prisoner some time before all was over,
+with Gaspard Berthier, who now lay broken-down in the prison hospital at
+Norman Cross.
+
+Marc Poivre was a rough comforter to him.  Their berths were near each
+other, and as Poivre was somewhat softened at first, he deigned to notice
+the poor young fellow.
+
+"That cough of yours, Gaspard," said he, "is very bad."
+
+"I fear it annoys you," replied the other.  "I am very sorry, but I
+cannot help it.  I wish I could, for my sake as well as others!"
+
+"I think you might stop it more than you do," said a gruff voice from a
+face of vinegar close by: "specially of nights."
+
+"Don't vex the poor lad," said Poivre; "he won't be here long; his time
+is very short."
+
+"I am not so sure of that," replied Gaspard, with some animation.  "I
+thought your time was short, when they brought you in the other day in
+such a pickle: but I was wrong, you see."
+
+Poivre laughed; but added with more feeling than he usually shewed, "I
+fear not, Gaspard; your last campaign is over, depend upon it."
+
+A bright answer came to this doleful prophecy.  "I am glad of it, for
+then they will discharge me, and let me go home."
+
+"He never ought to have been a soldier," growled the man of vinegar.
+
+This remark was not relished by those of the patients who belonged to the
+same yard as Gaspard--there were from thirty to forty in hospital all
+told--for he was a kind-hearted fellow, ready to do anyone a good turn,
+and, though quiet, by no means a fool, as rowdies always are.  So the man
+of vinegar was hushed down.
+
+The truth was that, as is sometimes the case with consumptive patients,
+Gaspard was so sanguine about himself, that he never thought he was going
+to die.  To the last he believed he would recover.  And, happily, his was
+not that painful form of the disease where there is a great deal of
+suffering, and a literal dying by inches, so that the poor sick one longs
+to be released.
+
+The good chaplain noticed this feature of his complaint, but instead of
+continually insisting on the fact that he was a dying man, he took the
+poor fellow, as it were, on his own ground, and treated him as if he were
+going to live.
+
+"Gaspard, my son," the old man would say, "we must all die, and they live
+the happiest who are best prepared for it.  Religion is not for dying
+people only: it is for those who have years before them in this world,
+for those who are the busiest of the busy, for strong men as well as more
+feeble women, for old and young, for rich and poor alike, for those in
+the midst of temptation as well as for men shut up in convents, for the
+soldier amidst the excitements of war, and for the husbandman plying his
+peaceful occupations.  Therefore, Gaspard, let us all have religion."
+
+It would not be becoming to attempt to narrate all that was said in the
+intercourse between the minister and his charge.  There are many
+religions in the world, but only one way in which we can find peace with
+God.  No mere form will save anybody; and to whatever communion we
+belong, there is but one essential mark that distinguishes in God's sight
+all who are of the one true spiritual Church--and we have it on the
+highest authority--"They shall be all taught of _God_."  And for want of
+that teaching men go wrong in a thousand different ways!
+
+Gaspard died, and they buried him.  The place of interment for the
+prisoners of Norman Cross was a large field of several acres about a
+quarter of a mile from the corner where the Peterborough and Great North
+Roads meet, and on the west side of the latter.  It was therefore a very
+short distance from the barracks.  Why the Government purchased so large
+a field for the purpose it is impossible to say, unless they anticipated
+a very indefinite duration of the war.  Not more than a small quarter of
+it has apparently been consecrated by the presence of the dead.
+
+Here they brought poor Gaspard's emaciated body, and laid the child of
+sunny France in England's colder soil.  The prison officials carried him,
+but no mourners followed, save Poivre, who got leave for that purpose.
+The chaplain at the head, and a sergeant's guard bringing up the rear,
+completed the procession.  It has been said that the same coffin was used
+over and over again, and that each body was taken out of it at the grave
+and lowered without one; but it is impossible to credit it for a moment.
+Such a man as the Bishop of Moulines would never have suffered such
+barbarism, and the country that spent 300,000 pounds a year on this one
+prison, would never have grudged a coffin apiece to each poor fellow's
+body that required one.  The libel must have originated with somebody
+(not an undertaker,) who thought in his poor heart that one was good
+enough for all.  "It was only a prisoner."
+
+There, without attracting the notice of the others, and so depressing
+them, but with decency and reverence, they laid the dead to rest.
+
+It is a sacred spot still.  How many have been laid there of those exiles
+from their fatherland, no record shows, and no one knows their names save
+He who is the common Father of us all, and before whom not one of them is
+forgotten.  No prisoner was buried in the church or churchyard; nor did
+such exclusion arise from any want of respect, but from necessity; though
+it would be pleasant to have had to relate that some notice was in some
+way taken in the _parish books_ of Yaxley of these interesting
+parishioners, who were fellow-men, and who had done no wrong but die for
+their country.  But not one word is written about them, nor one allusion
+made to them.
+
+Much more to be regretted, however, is the fact that, in the portion of
+the pasture field where the dust of these poor fellows awaits the day of
+resurrection, not one single thing of any the slightest sort is to be
+seen to indicate the solemn use to which it has been put.  The soil, more
+sympathetic than man, still points by its depression to the spot where
+each grave has been, but no other record, no token whatever, not even an
+enclosure.  So that when the authorities sold back the field, they sold
+it along with all the dead that lay in part of it.
+
+Cui bono?
+
+The answer is--in the words of the "Stranger"--
+
+   "Give something to the dead.
+
+   "Give what?
+
+            Respect."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.--ATTEMPTED ESCAPE.
+
+
+It must have been a great aggravation of the trials of a prisoner of war
+that, from first to last, he was uncertain as to the duration of his
+captivity.  Had it not been for the sham peace of Amiens, some of the
+prisoners would have been in confinement seventeen years, while others
+were set at liberty after only one or two.  It may be said, Yes, but then
+they might always hope.  But hope, like other things, wants something to
+feed upon.  It cannot bring much consolation, when it lives upon
+fluctuation and uncertainty.  And so a criminal, who knows how long
+exactly his term will last, is in this respect better off than a prisoner
+of war, for he escapes the agitation of uncertainty; just as it has been
+known that a person threatened with blindness, has become much less
+irritable when he knew for certain he could never see again, than he was
+when recovery was doubtful.
+
+{Robert Lewin, aged 94.  The only Yaxley Man who remembers Norman Cross
+Barracks.  From a photograph taken by Rev. E. H. Brown: p113.jpg}
+
+The scales of hope went up and down continually at Norman Cross,
+according to the intelligence that reached the prisoners from each seat
+of war.  The triumphs of Napoleon on the Continent, and the victories of
+Wellington in the Peninsula, were pondered over with deepest interest by
+both officers and men.  But no prophet was there among them, or anywhere
+else, who could forecast the issue that was swiftly coming on.  At the
+commencement of the year 1812, all was still uncertain.  In the Eastern
+provinces of Spain the French were almost everywhere triumphant.  Napoleon
+was beginning his grand preparation for the invasion of Russia.  Our
+cousins in America were displaying their brotherly instincts by declaring
+war against us in our trouble.  Peace seemed as far off as ever.
+
+Captain Tournier did not return to the barracks until his health was
+completely re-established, and Major Kelly was very liberal in his
+allowance of time.  He quitted the hospitable roof of his friend with
+much regret, but with a heart full of gratitude, and went back to his
+discomforts as a man returning to his duty, not what he liked, but his
+duty, and what he meant to make the best of.
+
+Alice Cosin was much struck with the alteration in him, so much so indeed
+that she did not quite like it.  "He seems so cheerful," she remarked to
+her brother, "going back to that horrid place after all the comforts he
+has enjoyed with us."
+
+"Ah, dear Alice," he replied, "Tournier always was a man, but he is more
+a man than ever now, and is going to play the man with his troubles,
+which is far harder work than fighting with sword and pistol."
+
+Villemet, however, had been ordered back some time before, and returned
+to prison, it must be owned, with very bad grace.
+
+That nice little bedroom, so sweet and clean, with creepers peeping in at
+him through the window, and reminding him of home; and those blue eyes,
+that always looked so true, made it hard work to leave.  He went off with
+a heavy heart and the gloominess of a mute; and as he shook hands with
+his friends, he made the most profound bow to Alice, and said, "Miss
+Cosin, I am going from paradise to I'll not say what.  You cannot imagine
+how awful the change will be."
+
+A shower of good wishes refreshed him for the moment, but they did not
+prevent his entering the hated prison like a bear with a scalded head.
+
+This amiable mood, not altogether to be wondered at, was not improved by
+the atmosphere of the prison, which he found more than ever charged with
+the depressing opinion among the prisoners that there was less likelihood
+than ever of the war coming to an end.  Villemet, as we have seen, was a
+light-hearted fellow, even to a fault; but his light-heartedness was
+simply nature's good gift to him, it was not the fruit of principle, like
+the newly-found cheerfulness of his friend Tournier, and could not, or at
+least did not, stand the strain of long continued uncertainty.
+
+"I will stand this vile bondage no longer," he said to himself one day.
+"Better be shot in trying to escape than stay longer in this foul den,
+and lose all my best days of manhood, buried before my time.  Honour!
+What's honour among thieves?  The English have robbed me of my liberty,
+and I will rob them of my presence.  So we shall be quits.  If they catch
+me, I will pay the penalty with my life.  Is that not a fair bargain?"
+
+It was bad logic.  But when passion urges a man, good-bye to his logic!
+
+Villemet said nothing to Tournier about it.  He knew it would be of no
+use.  Nor did he say anything to anybody.  He had no wish to incur the
+responsibility of involving others in the rash attempt.
+
+There was an inn called the "Wheat Sheaf" in the parish of Stibbington,
+about five miles from the barracks.  It was a favourite rendezvous of the
+officers on parole, not for the sake of tippling, the chief attraction of
+such places in these more enlightened days, but because they could get a
+recherche dinner there, the mother of the highly respectable landlord
+being a singularly good cook.  Villemet knew the place well, and had been
+often there.  Thither he proceeded one afternoon on a day when he knew
+few, if any, from the barracks would be there, and had some dinner all by
+himself in the familiar parlour.  Then he sat down in the well-worn arm-
+chair, and rang for a cigar.  "If anybody calls to see me," he said to
+the waiting-maid, "shew him in here, and mind you don't let anyone
+disturb me while he is here.  Now don't you forget," he added with a
+severe look the girl had never seen before in the merry fellow's face;
+"nobody whatever is to come in while we are talking."
+
+In the evening of the same day, as it began to get dark, Tournier, who
+had been spending the day with Cosin, was on the point of getting up to
+return to the barracks, when the landlord of the "Wheat Sheaf" was
+announced.  He had asked to see Tournier.
+
+"Tell him to come in here," said Cosin, "and I will leave you to
+yourselves."
+
+"Pray don't," said the other laughing; "I have no secrets with the worthy
+host of the 'Wheat Sheaf.'"
+
+"I have brought bad news, gentlemen," said the man hurriedly; "your
+friend, Mr. Villemet, has made away with himself--"
+
+"What! killed himself?" both exclaimed in horror.
+
+"Not quite so bad as that, though it may end in something quite as bad.
+He has bolted, and never means to come back alive."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"My servant girl took it into her head to listen at the door, while a
+stranger, who had called upon the gentleman, was talking with him in the
+parlour; and she heard him mention something about a brace of pistols he
+had brought; and also, which was the best way to the Lincolnshire coast;
+and whether he could find him up a horse somewhere, she couldn't catch
+the name of the place.  My wife and I were out at the time, but when we
+came home she let out all about it."
+
+Well might they both look grave.
+
+"How long ago did you first hear about this?"
+
+"Less than two hours.  I started directly.  If the girl had only repeated
+some tittle-tattle I should have taken no notice of course, but as it
+was, I felt bound to let you know."
+
+"Had Mr. Villemet left before you came away?"
+
+"Oh, certainly: full an hour before."
+
+"Don't let anyone know about it.  It will be better for _you_ not to
+mention it.  It might spoil your custom."
+
+Thus cautioned, the worthy landlord went away.
+
+"Can you lend me a horse, Cosin?"
+
+"Yes, and go with you myself."
+
+He ordered two horses to be ready in half-an-hour, and himself went round
+to three or four neighbours, and invited them to join the party, telling
+them, of course, the object of their sudden departure.  Not one of them
+hesitated a moment, for Villemet was popular among them; and the farmers
+of Yaxley were, at that time, manly, steady, and obliging fellows, in no
+wise ashamed to be seen in their place in the house of God.  And the race
+is happily not extinct.
+
+"Shall we take pistols?"
+
+"Yes.  But don't use them if you can possibly help it."
+
+They cantered off, a party of six, all firm in the saddle, and passed the
+barracks without attracting much attention, as it was dark.
+
+The difficulty was to know what road Villemet had taken, but they all
+agreed they must chance it, and go straight away to Spalding.  Thither
+they galloped as fast as horses' legs could carry them, arriving there
+soon after midnight.
+
+A belated hostler at one of the inns was asked whether he had seen a
+horseman, or horsemen, pass through the town lately.  He scratched his
+head and meditated.
+
+"Aye, to be sure I have.  Leastways, one.  What a memory I have!  Why I
+had my lantern with me, and took a good look at him.  By George, his
+horse was steaming.  But it was a poor creature, and would sweat, I
+should think, if he only whisked his tail twice, only he'd got none."
+
+"What a picture of a screw!" said one of the party, laughing heartily
+with the rest.
+
+"Just what we wanted," said Tournier; and giving the man a tip, they all
+went off again.
+
+They had gone but a few miles when they heard the sound of horse's feet
+in front of them.  They halted and listened.  It was only one horse, and
+they could distinguish the voice of the rider urging the poor beast
+along, with not very gentle thuds of a whip.
+
+"It is Villemet's voice," said Tournier: "and he evidently hears us
+coming."
+
+And now was the critical time.  They wanted to secure without hurting
+him; and they also wanted to save him from the after misery of having
+hurt, or perhaps killed, one of them.  So they broke into a canter, and,
+as they had arranged beforehand, began to sing at the top of their voices
+a jolly uproarious huntman's song; and passing Villemet (who took them
+for roysterers going home,) on the right and left, reined up their
+horses, the foremost riders seizing the bridle, and the next two pointing
+their pistols at the runaway, and cried, "Stand and deliver in the king's
+name," and then all burst out laughing.
+
+Bewildered by this, Villemet's hand yet sought his pistol, but Tournier
+grasped his wrist and held it as in a vice, saying, "Don't you know me,
+old friend?"
+
+"I don't call you a friend," said Villemet, "to put a pistol at my head,
+and stop me from escaping!"
+
+"My dear man," answered one of the party, "none of our pistols are
+cocked."
+
+At this, Villemet made a frantic effort to disengage his hand, but he was
+overpowered, and both his pistols taken from him.
+
+"Remember, sir," the other said, "we can cock our pistols in a moment,
+and use them too: they are all loaded."
+
+"Look here, my friend," said Tournier, calmly, "we have no wish to attend
+your funeral at Yaxley, or to have you shut up in the barracks all the
+rest of your time.  So, if you will pass your word of honour to _me_ that
+you will not again attempt to escape, and come back with us, no one shall
+know anything about this matter; and, as you will remember, your parole
+from the major extends over to-morrow, so you will be all right in that
+quarter."
+
+Villemet made no reply.  The proposal was hard of digestion in his very
+ruffled state, but there was certainly gilt on the gingerbread.
+
+"And what if I refuse your gracious offer?" at last he said.
+
+"Then, in that case," replied Tournier, "we shall tie your feet under the
+belly of this noble steed, with our pistols at full cock, lest he should
+run away, and take you back in triumph to Norman Cross to meet the fate
+you deserve."
+
+The compact was made, and faithfully adhered to.
+
+All parties concerned kept the secret well, and happily the air of Yaxley
+was unfavourable to idle gossip.
+
+* * * * *
+
+The overpowering sense of weariness and impatience which must have
+afflicted the prisoners, as in the case of Villemet, had its simplest and
+most direct antidote in _occupation_.  A well known German poet has said,
+that occupation and sympathy are the two great remedies for grief of all
+sorts.  Happily there were a great many of the prisoners who tried the
+first of these specifics.  They spent a considerable portion of their
+time in making a variety of articles of more or less elaborate
+workmanship, and in many cases of great artistic beauty.  Indeed, it is
+difficult which to admire most, the skill displayed in their work, or the
+dexterity with which they turned to account the very limited material
+that was within their reach--for the most part wood, straw, and
+beef-bones.  It is surprising what delicate things they produced out of
+the last, which the kitchen supplied them with in abundance.
+
+Some of them (no doubt sailors,) made models of ships, exact in the
+minutest details.  Others, of the same material, made work-boxes, watch-
+stands, statuettes (one of the crucifixion and madonna), boxes of
+dominoes, a carved spinning-jenny, the figures representing the costumes
+of the period, guillotines, models of the block-house (partly wood), and
+many more articles of all descriptions.
+
+Besides these really wonderful survivals of the soup-caldron (which by
+the way was five feet across, and more than three feet deep), the straw
+work of the prisoners was equally beautiful.  There was a model of the
+noble west front of Peterborough Cathedral in straw marqueterie (and
+another in _grass_); also a picture representing a church, with mill and
+bridge, and a barge on the river; with all kinds of boxes, fire-screens,
+dressing-cases, tea-caddies, etc.  These are given simply as specimens of
+the really skilled work they did, and which must have cost them much
+patience, and an infinite amount of care and trouble.
+
+It is said that some of the prisoners made a good deal of money by the
+sale of these articles to visitors at the prison, and that when their
+liberation came at last, they had amassed fabulous little fortunes.  At
+all events, their industry was rewarded.  They obtained the means of
+adding to their comforts; and much better than this, whether they gained
+much or little in money, busy employment saved them from that greatest of
+all evils, the curse of even enforced idleness.
+
+And so the handiwork of the prisoners of Norman Cross, who wisely chose
+to work, instead of idly repining in their trouble, is a useful lesson to
+all--to make the best of our circumstances, however trying and forlorn,
+by doing with our might the work we _can_ do, even if it be not the work
+we _like_ the best.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.--AN ENEMY TURNS UP.
+
+
+Captain Draper had only been eighteen months at Norman Cross when, to the
+great regret of all--prisoners, officials, and soldiers, he was seized
+with sudden illness and died.  He was admirably fitted for the position
+he held there, but, like many a man engaged in much higher and more
+important work than his, and for which far greater qualifications are
+required, he was cut off in the midst of his usefulness.
+
+That we cannot understand why such things happen is only to confess how
+limited is our knowledge; to complain of them, is to doubt the goodness
+and wisdom of the Almighty.  Perhaps it is not a bad guess to suppose
+they are intended to teach us that most wholesome lesson--that few in
+this world are important, none _necessary_.
+
+Every possible token of respect was shewed to his memory.  With the
+prisoners themselves it was more than respect.  Rough as many of them
+were, demoralized by severance from family ties, soured by hopelessness,
+they had found a man, to use an expression of holy writ, who had showed
+them "the kindness of God" in their affliction: and now he was gone from
+them for ever.
+
+They addressed a petition to the commandant that some of them might be
+allowed to attend the funeral at Yaxley Church, a request which Major
+Kelly granted with the greatest readiness, and was much touched by the
+concluding words of the petition, that he need not be afraid of incurring
+any risk by letting them come out for the occasion, because, wild as many
+of them were, there was not a single man amongst them that was such a
+_mauvais sujet_ as to take advantage of the opportunity to attempt his
+escape.
+
+Both officers and men were represented, as well as a considerable number
+of the regiments on guard, though Major Kelly was too sound a soldier to
+detach too many, knowing that it was right to provide against not only
+what was likely, but also what was possible to happen.
+
+It was a touching sight, as a military funeral always is, even when the
+departed one is an ordinary and undistinguished man.  How much more when
+he has taken an honourable part in many a glorious field of battle!  And
+how much more yet, when, as in this case, he has fallen on the field of
+unromantic duty, done with faithfulness, and with kindness, and with
+humanity.
+
+His record still exists, and may be seen to this day on the north wall of
+the Lady-chapel of the grand old church of Yaxley, honouring alike the
+good man whose remains lie there, and the "poor prisoners," whose friend
+he was.
+
+The tablet has the following words on it:
+
+   "Inscribed at the desire and at the sole expense of the French
+   prisoners of war at Norman Cross, to the memory of Captain John
+   Draper, R.N., who for the last 18 months of his life was agent to the
+   depot; in testimony of their esteem and gratitude for his humane
+   attention to their comforts during that too short period.  He died
+   Feb. 23, 1813, aged 53 years."
+
+When all was over, Tournier remained behind to view the sacred edifice
+with his friend Cosin.
+
+"What a magnificent church," he exclaimed, after he had looked round.
+"Why, it is a small cathedral!  Are all your parish churches like this?"
+
+"No," said Cosin, smiling, "this is the finest in the neighbourhood."
+
+"But what is the meaning of those wooden boxes all about?" asked
+Tournier: "they look like (forgive me for saying so,) what we call
+'_stalles pour les bestiaux_,' but there are seats in them"--peeping into
+one of the square pews.
+
+"Oh, that is where we sit and worship."
+
+"How droll!"
+
+So it strikes a stranger!  Taste in such matters had not yet come into
+fashion, or rather, it had gone away, and not yet come back.
+
+"Well," said Tournier, greatly interested, and looking round with
+admiration on the noble building, with its beautiful windows and four
+fine chapels, "if my village church in France were anything like this, I
+would take a pride in doing my utmost to preserve and beautify it.  It is
+a glorious gift.  But, excuse me, my dear friend, it does not look _cared
+for_."
+
+Then he asked about its age, and Cosin shewed him a place in the wall of
+one of the chapels where two hands are supporting a heart in some sort of
+relief.  No inscription whatever accompanies the simple representation.
+"There," he told Tournier, "is said to be deposited the heart of William
+of Yaxley, a native of the place, who was Abbot of Thorney, near
+Peterborough, and who built, or enlarged this church.  He was a true
+Yaxley man, and directed that his body should be buried in Thorney Abbey,
+and his heart in the wall of Yaxley Church.  I have often thought how I
+should like to make a hole {133} in that wall, and search for that heart,
+but to my mind it would be nothing less than sacrilege to do such a thing
+merely to gratify curiosity.  No!  Let William of Yaxley's heart rest
+where he wished it to be.  Yaxley was the home of his heart; Yaxley
+Church is the gift of his heart, and there should his heart rest in
+peace."
+
+* * * * *
+
+On the 21st of June, 1813, the battle of Vittoria was fought.  The
+French, under Marshal Jourdan, took up a strong position before the town,
+but after obstinate resistance were beaten and driven through the place.
+The whole of their artillery, baggage, and ammunition, together with
+property valued at a million sterling, was captured; and they fled in the
+greatest disorder, never rallying till they reached the Pyrenees.  It was
+the last great battle on the soil of Spain, but it was not the first time
+the pass of Roncesvalles had witnessed a French disaster.
+
+The consequence was--a fresh batch of prisoners arrived at Norman Cross,
+and it was probably the last.
+
+Captain Tournier was standing talking with a number of other officers,
+both English and French, near the entrance gate of the barracks, when
+they saw them approaching along the road.
+
+As the new comers passed by, their reception, as always, was respectful
+and sympathetic.  The Frenchmen scrutinized their fellows with friendly
+eyes to see if they could detect among them some former comrade, and when
+they happened to do so, which of course was not often, gave lively tokens
+of recognition.  Tournier was not in the front part of the group of
+officers, but nevertheless could see fairly well.
+
+And he _did_ see!  He saw a face he had not looked on for years, and
+which he had hoped never to see again: a face that he had tried, oh, so
+hard, to forget: a face that haunted him in his dreams: the face of the
+man he hated more than anybody in the world! and there he was walking
+along (even in this his humiliation,) with his old air of a man for whom
+all the world was made; handsome as ever, but with those same cold eyes
+that looked on everything as a joke, whether it were a man's life or a
+woman's honour!
+
+"What's the matter with Tournier?" said one of the officers; "he has
+broken through like a madman and gone after someone yonder, as if he
+meant to do him grievous bodily harm!"
+
+It was true.  Tournier had uttered a strong exclamation, and broken
+through those in front of him with almost violence, and gone after
+somebody.  He made for his man, and got up to him near enough to touch
+him, when he stopped short.  "Fool that I am!" he thought; "I shall save
+his life by exposing him now!  No!  I will wait till I can make sure of
+him!"
+
+And he turned away in terrible agitation.
+
+All was brought back to his mind, and yet more to his heart.  The man
+that had wronged him, that had caused him such anguish, that had well-
+nigh destroyed his life as he had his happiness, was brought close to
+him, at his very elbow, by this strange chance.  And what for?  Was it
+not that he might take vengeance on the scoundrel?  He had forgiven her,
+but he never could forgive him.  It was not meant that he should.  So he
+thought.
+
+And up and down the road he walked for hours, still thinking, till the
+stars came out in their glory, and looked down on him like pitying eyes.
+And once he looked up and noticed them, and they seemed to repeat the
+sweet refrain, "God is good, and can help."  But he thrust it from him,
+and said aloud, "Then why did God _send_ him to me."
+
+   "How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds,
+   "Makes deeds ill done!"
+
+Wearied with walking, he bethought himself where he should go for the
+night.  Not to the barracks.  How could he sleep under the same roof with
+that villain?  The very sight of him would goad him on to commit some
+indecorum before the others.  Should he go to his friend Cosin's?  No!
+Something within made him shrink from encountering, in his present
+temper, that tranquil eye.  He would be all for peace; and what had he to
+do with peace while her dishonour (as he put it) was unavenged, as well
+as his own.
+
+However, to walk about all night, especially when by yourself, is not
+pleasant.  Alas, for those who have to do it, and with no relief to come
+its rounds!  So Tournier determined to get quarters at the "Wheat Sheaf,"
+and knocked the landlord up, as it was past midnight.
+
+Next morning he went to the barracks, and sent in his name to the
+commandant, asking for an interview.  Major Kelly looked surprised; it
+was not the usual way of approach.
+
+"I am very sorry, sir," said Tournier, "to trouble you in this irregular
+way; but the fact is, I am in great perplexity as to what I ought to do,
+and could not explain myself first to anyone else."
+
+"What is your difficulty, Captain Tournier?" said the major, rather
+coldly.
+
+"Among the prisoners who arrived yesterday was a certain Colonel
+Fontenoy, who is my bitterest enemy, having wronged me past all
+endurance.  I cannot be in the same quarters with him.  Could you do me
+the very great kindness of putting me into one of the other wards, even
+though it be that of common men?"
+
+Major Kelly paused awhile, as if thinking.  "Is this Colonel Fontenoy,"
+he said, at length, "the same man as he who did indeed wrong you so
+shamefully, and drove you to desperation?"
+
+"The very same."
+
+"When you first spoke," said the major, "I was going to say that it was
+quite out of my power to arrange the prisoners with exact regard, or even
+any regard, to their private quarrels; but then yours is no common case,
+and I may add, your sensitiveness of no ordinary kind, I will see to the
+matter.  But not to put you among the common men.  You can stay in your
+old quarters, and I will put the colonel into other, and perhaps better
+ones.  Of course I am bound to act justly towards him; and if he behaves
+himself, he will be out on parole; but I will confine him to the road in
+the west direction, so that you can keep out of his way."
+
+Major Kelly was as good as his word.  But Tournier had no intention of
+keeping out of the colonel's way, whenever he should get out on parole.
+The old feelings, natural but not Christian, had revived in him with a
+sudden rush at the sight of the man, and he was completely carried away
+by them.  His only fear was lest, through precipitancy, or the
+interference of others, he should be hindered from obtaining from
+Fontenoy the satisfaction he demanded, if that be rightly satisfaction
+which consists in killing or wounding another, or in being killed or
+wounded oneself.
+
+He never left the barracks for many days after this, but relapsed into
+his old moody ways.  Villemet could not make out what was the matter with
+him.
+
+One day they were walking together in the yard, when Tournier suddenly
+said, "Villemet, I want you to do something for me.  It will, perhaps, be
+the last favour you will ever show me."
+
+"Then I would rather not do it."
+
+"But you must.  Who do you think is in the prison at this present
+moment?--Fontenoy.  He came with the others some days ago."
+
+"Is it possible?" cried Villemet, almost jumping with astonishment.
+
+"And I want you to be my second: for as soon as ever he gets out on
+parole, I mean to challenge him, and the duel must be _a l'ontrance_."
+
+"With the greatest possible pleasure," said his friend.
+
+But they had to wait.  It was some time before Fontenoy was out on
+parole.  The major was in no hurry about it, out of consideration
+probably for Tournier.
+
+At last, one day, Villemet, who kept up a sharp enquiry, announced the
+good news that the colonel was to be out next day.  Both of them
+accordingly were on the watch for him in the road; and, sure enough, saw
+him coming along towards them, snuffing the air with great delight, and
+looking about him with evident satisfaction.  The satisfaction, however,
+was not of long duration.
+
+As the colonel's eye caught the first glimpse of two gentlemen
+approaching him, he seemed to smell, as it were, something wrong, for
+
+   "Conscience does make cowards of us all";
+
+and when he came near enough to distinguish features as well as figure,
+he turned pale, and his effrontery for the moment left him.  But it soon
+came back, and he met Tournier's cruelly stern gaze with a look of
+careless defiance.  Tournier stopped in front of him.
+
+"Colonel Fontenoy," he said, with the coldness of the grave: "my friend
+here has something to say to you on my behalf."
+
+The colonel began to speak; but Tournier at once silenced him.
+
+"_I_ have nothing to say to you, sir," and passed on.
+
+Then Villemet proceeded to execute his commission with all frigid
+politeness and particularity.  It is not worth while to relate what such
+a man as Fontenoy said on the occasion.  But the challenge was accepted.
+The seconds were to arrange all the rest.
+
+As the day drew near when, as Tournier learned, the colonel would again
+be out on parole, he felt a strong desire to make his confession to the
+bishop.  There might be but a step between him and death.  Besides, he
+was not easy in his mind.  He was not quite sure he was doing right in
+thus seeking the life of his enemy.
+
+So he sought and, as always, found a ready hearer in the chaplain.  But
+when he came to tell him what he contemplated doing, the good man looked
+pained and surprised.
+
+"And do you really think, my son, that the minister of God can forgive a
+sin before it is committed? and that sin wilful murder?"
+
+"Murder?"
+
+"Yes, murder!"
+
+"How can that be, when each has an equal chance?"
+
+"Of committing murder!"
+
+"There are many who fight duels."
+
+"There are many who do wrong, my son."
+
+"Then is killing in battle murder?"
+
+"No, for it is not done in revenge.  It is the motive that makes killing
+murder.  Your motive is revenge."
+
+And then he went on to urge Tournier, for whom he had entertained the
+tenderest regard, that he would give up his bloody intention, and leave
+his enemy to God.  He expostulated with him, used the most affectionate
+entreaties, appealed to the authority of his holy office.
+
+But all in vain.  Tournier stoutly, but in the most respectful language,
+refused to comply, and the bishop refused to grant him absolution.
+
+But Tournier was most unhappy.  Let those who remonstrate with another,
+apparently in vain, remember to their comfort, that oftentimes the
+remonstrance has not been entirely thrown away.  The first blow of the
+hammer does not drive home the nail, but it begins to do so.
+
+One more evening before the fatal day: That evening he would spend with
+his friends at the Manor House.  He had treated them badly for several
+weeks, and never gone near them; but they received him just as cordially
+as ever, and took no notice of his absence, only expressed their pleasure
+at seeing him, which touched him all the more; and then the thought
+caused a lump in his throat that, perhaps, he might never see them again.
+He did not like to speak of what he was about to do before Alice, because
+it was an unpleasant subject for ladies' ears, but when she went out of
+the room, he began at once to tell her brother all, from first to last.
+
+Never had he seen Cosin so greatly disturbed.  He listened with open
+mouth and staring eyes to all that Tournier said without uttering a word.
+Not a remark did he make: not a question did he ask.  Then, when the tale
+was told, and Tournier was waiting for some reply, Cosin started from his
+chair, and began to pace up and down the room in extreme agitation.  At
+length he stopped in front of the other, and said, sternly but
+sorrowfully,--
+
+"Then, after all, you have given up God."
+
+"I hope not."
+
+"But you have, on your own shewing: and taken up with the devil."
+
+Tournier writhed under this, and was about to say something sharp, but
+Cosin went on,--
+
+"I will prove it to you.  God says, 'Vengeance is mine: I will repay';
+and you say, 'Not so, I will avenge myself.'  And whenever we contradict
+God, we take up with the devil."
+
+Then Cosin sat down again, and in his old gentle tone of voice, said,--
+
+"Which do you think has sinned most against the other: Fontenoy against
+you, or you against God?"
+
+Tournier was silent.  He was thinking of all the misery _that_ man had
+brought upon him.  How happy he might have been, if he had not come
+between him and his love.  He thought of his future, and how, even if
+ever he were set at liberty again, life would be a blank to him.  And he
+ground his teeth with rage.
+
+And then he heard his friend Cosin saying with quiet voice, like the
+voice of conscience,--
+
+"When once you had given up God, in years gone by, and you scouted Him
+who had given you every comfort and blessing you possessed, who had
+preserved you every day and night, so that you would have dropped down
+dead had He withheld His hand any moment, and who had covered your head
+in the day of battle--did He take vengeance on you? or did He open your
+eyes and make you see some glimpse of His goodness?"
+
+Then, after a pause, he went on in the same quiet way,--
+
+"And when, in the madness of your distress, you tried again and again to
+drown yourself, as if there were no God, no life after death, no power to
+help in the Almighty; whose voice was it in your heart that bade you stop
+each time, and bade you hope?
+
+"And, as you lay on that sick bed, and your life trembled in the balance,
+whose power was it that gave the turn to your distempered mind, instead
+of dealing with you after your sin, and rewarding you after your
+iniquity?"
+
+Once more he paused.  Then said in a yet lower tone of voice, almost in a
+whisper, but with perfect naturalness, "And far, far above all, when we
+were yet without strength, ungodly sinners, who was it signalized His
+love towards us by dying for us on the cross?"
+
+More passed between the two friends that night.  But Cosin could elicit
+no definite promise from the other.  He only said, with great emotion, as
+they parted,--
+
+"Truest and best of friends, I shall think all night of these things."
+
+And he did turn and twist about for hours in his berth, so that more than
+once his fellow prisoners cried out angrily, "What _is_ the matter with
+you, Tournier?"  But he fell asleep towards morning, as soon as he had at
+last made up his mind that Fontenoy might kill _him_ if he could, but he
+himself would fire into the ground.
+
+As he went out in the morning he met the chaplain.  He stopped him and
+said, "You are going, I see, to keep your appointment.  Spare yourself
+the trouble.  Your enemy has been struck down by another hand than yours.
+The Almighty has smitten him with paralysis.  He is never likely to
+recover."
+
+But he _did_ recover; and so we take our leave of him with the greatest
+possible pleasure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.--PRISONERS EMANCIPATED.
+
+
+The retreat of Napoleon, after the battle of Leipsic, was as disastrous
+to him as his retreat from Moscow.  On the 9th of November, 1813, he
+reached Paris, and on the 21st of the following month the allied armies
+crossed the Rhine, and carried the war into France.  Soon after, the
+English, under Wellington, defeated the French, under Soult--"the bravest
+of the brave," in several engagements in the South of France, until the
+knell of Napoleon's arms was sounded in the bloody battle of Toulouse,
+fought on Easter Sunday, the 11th of April, 1814.  Six days before the
+battle, Napoleon had abdicated at Fontainebleau.  If the electric
+telegraph had been known in those days, all the lives lost in that
+fearful fight might have been saved.  But that would have been a small
+matter to Napoleon.
+
+The war was ended.  That long, weary war--so wanton, so unnecessary, save
+for Europe's liberty, and England's existence--that had left its trail of
+blood almost everywhere, and desolated so many thousands of homes, was
+ended.
+
+To many and many a poor prisoner, the year 1814 must have been like the
+blessed year of jubilee.  Two hundred thousand Frenchmen were set free in
+Russia alone: but they had not been in confinement for very long.  In
+continental countries there must have been many more.  Some fifty
+thousand were located in various parts of England and Scotland, of whom a
+large number had been imprisoned for several years, and they were no
+doubt the most joyous of all.
+
+But it must have been anything but an easy matter even to get rid of such
+numbers of men, all in a state of more or less excitement, intoxicated
+with a sense of newly gained liberty.  Without proper precautions an
+emancipation on so large a scale would have led to much disorder, at
+least in the neighbourhood where prisoners had been confined.  To avoid
+this they were marched off in detachments to the sea-coast, where ships
+were ordered to attend and embark them for conveyance to their own dear
+France.
+
+Such necessary arrangements of course took time, and it was not until
+August that the last batch of prisoners left Norman Cross.
+
+Of course, the poor fellows were aware of the great change in their
+condition that was coming by what they gathered from the current news of
+the day; yet, whenever the actual proclamation of liberty reached them,
+we can but faintly imagine the delirium of excitement that followed.
+Then, in the place where for so many years the sighing of the prisoners
+had been heard, mingled, it might be, with the sound of revelry, in which
+the wretched tried to drown their misery, pealed forth the shouts of
+those who sang for very joy and gladness of heart.
+
+Poivre was still among them.  That man of the revolution, like many
+others of the older prisoners, had learned something by his captivity.  He
+used to think, and with too much reason, that the rich and high-born were
+the vultures that preyed on the poor; but now he had discovered that one
+risen from the ranks might be as heartless and oppressive as "Monsieur"
+of old, and be utterly indifferent how many lives were lost, and how many
+imprisoned for years, to gain his own selfish ends.
+
+They were sitting together at supper, some of them, a few evenings before
+their turn came to leave, when the remark was made that "the little
+corporal" would never have another chance, but was driven into a hole at
+last.
+
+"Think you so?" replied Poivre; "I am not so sure of that.  It must be a
+curious hole that man cannot get out of sooner or later.  He has the
+cleverness of the devil, if there be one."
+
+"Would you fight again for him, Poivre, if he did come out of his hole?"
+
+"Not I," said he, "if I could help it.  Some of us have had enough of
+him.  We begin to think we have not been fighting for "France and glory,"
+but for him, and he does not care two pins for us.  But there are
+thousands of fellows who are such fools that, if the emperor were only
+able to shew himself again, they would flock to him, and be ready to
+become food for powder the next moment.  I am going to prophecy, my
+friends.  Mark what I say.  When all our countrymen have been set free,
+Napoleon will have an army, a grand army, ready to hand.  Depend on it,
+he has his eye on this, and will make use of the opportunity; but he will
+not find Marc Poivre in the ranks!"
+
+Human prophecies are acute guesses, and when they come true, correct
+guesses.  Such was Poivre's prophecy.  But was it not a fatal mistake,
+though, perhaps, one that could not be avoided, to place an army within
+Napoleon's grasp, even as we had given him back the sailors that manned
+his navy by the bogus peace of Amiens?
+
+This at least is certain, that the volcano which had desolated Europe for
+so many years but had become quiescent when Napoleon abdicated at
+Fontainebleau, burst forth again with an awful blaze in 1815, and was
+only extinguished for ever at Waterloo.  So, some at least of the
+prisoners at Norman Cross may again have fought gallantly against us.
+
+Captain Tournier, like the rest, was longing to see once more his old
+home, but had first to pay a farewell visit to his friends at the Manor
+House.  He was with them only a couple of nights, and Villemet was
+invited to stay also.  The meeting could not be otherwise than mingled
+with sadness to each of them.  They had known each other now for nearly
+six years, and those years had been made interesting by intercourse of no
+ordinary kind.
+
+At dinner, Cosin was the most cheerful of them all.  He was really very
+sorry to part with his friends, especially with Tournier, whom he loved
+as a brother; but he could not for the life of him make out why two men
+who had just obtained the freedom they had so long pined for, and were on
+the point of starting for the homes they had dreamt of every night for
+years, should be so awfully down.  And least of all, like a stupid fellow
+that he was, and as most men are in such matters, could he imagine why
+Alice should take upon herself to look so supremely wretched, and hardly
+open her mouth all dinner time.
+
+Nothing could exceed the minute attention which Villemet paid to her,
+though all in good taste, but with an anxious, if not mournful air, as if
+he were appointed to watch over her health, and was not quite happy about
+it.
+
+Alice received his attentions with perfect politeness, but her ears were
+evidently occupied with something else.
+
+Tournier took no more notice of her than any gentleman would naturally do
+to the lady of the house at a party of four.  Almost all his conversation
+was addressed to Cosin, and consisted chiefly of references to happy days
+gone by, during their intercourse with each other.  Each allusion ended
+with a sort of sigh, as if to say, "Ah, there will be no more of that
+now!"
+
+"Upon my word, Cosin," he cried, "if it were not for my sweet old mother,
+I would almost be a prisoner again to live near you."
+
+The blue eyes brightened a little.  And there was someone who noticed it,
+and, oh! how he wished he had made the same remark.
+
+To understand Tournier's enthusiasm, we must know something of how a
+deeply sensitive nature is drawn toward the one who has saved his soul
+from death.
+
+"Come, my friends," said Cosin, "let us be merry while we can, which to
+my thinking is always, if we cast our future upon God.  There is no
+happiness unalloyed with sorrow in this world.  We must wait for that.  I
+drink to the perpetual amity of our two countries.  God has made us
+neighbours: why should we quarrel?  We have been fighting, but we have
+not been quarrelling.  Let French and English be better friends than
+ever.  And when the devil of ambition next arises in either country, and
+tempts us to disagree, let us bid him leave his foul work alone, for we,
+the people, are fast friends for ever."
+
+Next morning, the four went out for their last ride together.  Alice and
+Villemet went first, and the others followed.  As they passed the
+familiar spot where Villemet had spent so many weary days and nights,
+Alice remarked, how glad he must be that he was a free man once more.
+
+"Yes, Miss Cosin," he replied in a very dissatisfied tone; "yet I am not
+free altogether, my body is, but I shall leave my heart behind me."
+
+"Oh, that will never do," said Alice, with more vivacity than he quite
+liked: "you will want your heart.  You could never be a heartless man I
+am quite sure," and she looked archly at the handsome young fellow as she
+said it, and smiled so provokingly.
+
+"It is true however," he said, but in such a melancholy way, that Alice
+felt sure something serious was coming.
+
+"If I might only leave my heart with you," he added, "I should be quite
+content to go away without it."
+
+"But what on earth should I do with it?" she said, purposely disregarding
+the sentimental, and sticking to the literal meaning of his words.
+
+"Keep it close to your own," was his reply.
+
+"Then should I be queen of hearts indeed!"
+
+"You are that already to me."
+
+It was time, she thought, to put a stop to this; so, after riding on a
+little further, Alice said very demurely, "I thought, sir, you were more
+in jest than earnest, but, at all events, I am altogether in earnest when
+I say, that you must never repeat to me what you uttered just now.  I
+wish always to regard you as a friend--a friend found under circumstances
+of deep interest to my brother and myself--but nothing more; never
+anything more!  Let us join the others."
+
+And she turned her horse's head, and met her brother and Tournier, her
+face slightly flushed; while Villemet rode after her much more disturbed
+than ever he had been when charging a whole battery of guns.
+
+They too had been talking together as they followed the others along the
+familiar road that passed by the barracks.  It was on the old subject
+that Tournier seemed never to weary of.
+
+"There," he said, pointing to the spot where he had first met Cosin,
+"that is where I first set eyes on your sunny English face.  I remember
+it by that blighted tree in the hedge-row.  I often thought, when I
+passed it afterwards, that it was exactly like me at that time--half-dead
+for want of God--fungus everywhere."
+
+Then, as they passed the barracks, he said, "Stop a moment, Cosin.  Look
+at that gate yonder.  How well I remember coming out of that gate in an
+awful state of mind--nearly mad--determined, as a last resource, to see
+if you, or anybody, really believed in God; and I found you did, for you
+lived as if you did.  And then began those blessed years of teaching, not
+so much by words as by example, which have made me a happy man, though,
+God knows, and you know too well, a very faulty one."
+
+"Say no more, my good friend," replied Cosin; "only let not our
+separation now be an end to our intercourse.  You shall ever be to us a
+welcome visitor."
+
+"And I, for my part, shall ever be delighted to renew my acquaintance
+with the place which has been at once, the saddest and the happiest in my
+life."
+
+The others had now joined them.
+
+"Tournier will soon be here again!" cried Cosin to his sister, unable to
+repress the pleasure that he felt, but entirely, dull fellow that he was,
+on his own account.
+
+And all, saving Villemet, finished their ride in the best of spirits.
+
+Next day came the parting.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.--ENGLAND AND FRANCE UNITED.
+
+
+Who could describe the pleasure felt by the Frenchmen as they gazed once
+more on the shores of their own dear country after so long an absence!
+Even Villemet lost his lugubrious looks, while his friend, brimming over
+with joy, seemed almost ready to leap into the sea to get there.  He
+sprung about the deck, sang snatches of songs, laughed at every remark
+Villemet made even when there was nothing to laugh at, in fact, made
+himself somewhat ridiculous.
+
+As soon as they landed, they instantly made arrangements to post straight
+away to their homes, which were not far apart from each other.  Villemet's
+came first; and there, as they drove up, a perfect swarm of younger
+brothers and sisters came out to devour him; his old father and mother
+looking on behind with calmer but not less real delight.  It was a pretty
+sight, and as Tournier drove away amid their joyful greetings, he could
+not help for the moment envying him, and contrasting the scene with that
+which was awaiting himself, with only one welcome--only one--but then
+that was the welcome of a mother!
+
+He had to pass a well-known house; but as he drew near, he dashed down
+the blind, and turned away fiercely, till it was passed.  "Dead!" he
+muttered.
+
+The nearer he drew to his old home the more familiar were the objects
+that met his eye, till at last he spun through the gates, and up the
+drive, and almost leaping into the house, cried to the smiling servants,
+"Is she in her old room?"
+
+And there he found her.  She was pretty as ever, prettier than ever, as
+_he_ thought.
+
+"Mother, I have come to take care of you at last," he said; "and _to_ the
+last, thank God."
+
+"Thank God," she murmured in reply.
+
+But though his mother seemed almost like her old self under the
+exhilaration of that happy meeting, Tournier could not but observe how
+feeble she was in every way.  And when the first gush of joy was over, he
+saw it more plainly; and every day he noticed it increasingly.  Where
+some stamina is left, a sudden stimulus may lead to permanent
+improvement, but when there is none, excitement only revives for the
+moment, and leaves the patient weaker than ever.  So was it with the dear
+old lady.  Those years of lonely sorrow, aggravated by uncertainty and
+bitter disappointment, had killed her; and Tournier had only come in time
+to make the last few months of her life her happiest ones for many a day
+past.
+
+One evening, as the end was drawing near, she suddenly said, "My son,
+what will you do when I am gone?"
+
+"Sweet mother," was his reply, "I shall trust in God to help me bear my
+sorrow patiently.  I know He will."
+
+"Why not marry a wife?  It is God's own remedy for man's loneliness."
+
+"Where shall I find one?  I know no woman that I could trust _now_."
+Then, after a pause, he added, "And yet there is one I could trust.  Yes,
+those blue eyes could be trusted.  I would spurn the man who dared to say
+they could not."
+
+Then he told his mother all about Alice; and she listened with deepest
+interest, and a little flush came over her delicate pale face.  But it
+became pale as before when he said, "Ah! mother mine, Alice Cosin is not
+for me, nor for anyone: she is bound for life to her good brother, and I
+would not break that lovely bond even if I could."
+
+In the autumn of 1815 she died, her eyes fixed to the last on her son.
+And when they closed for ever, it seemed to him that love unutterable was
+extinguished.  But he took refuge in his God.
+
+It was hard work, however, to keep on living in the old place where
+everything reminded him so much of the past, both of joy and pain.  He
+would have asked his friend, Villemet, to take compassion on his
+loneliness, and come and stay with him awhile; but the irrepressible
+fellow had gone off to the wars some time ago, and joined the army of
+Napoleon, distinguishing himself greatly at Waterloo.  Again and again
+had Tournier's thoughts reverted to Alice Cosin, but each time he had
+repelled the pleasing idea as an impossibility.  "How could I," he
+repeated, as the fair vision floated away, "for my selfish ends spoil the
+happiness of a friend like him?"
+
+Fortified by this resolution, he determined at length to find consolation
+in fulfilling his promise of a visit to England.  There was no reason why
+he should not enjoy the immense pleasure of seeing his friend again, and
+of course his sister.  It would do him all the good in the world.
+
+So he started with gladness to visit once more the land to which he had
+been unwillingly conveyed as a prisoner some seven years before.  The old
+welcome was renewed with yet greater heartiness, and Tournier felt for
+the first time at home since his mother's death.  Only, at their first
+greeting, he thought it proper to shew a little sort of restraint in
+addressing Alice, and he could not but notice that this assumed restraint
+made her beaming face look rather grave.
+
+{The House of the Commandant.  New the residence of J. A. Herbert, Esq.,
+J.P.  From photo. by Rev. E. H. Brown: p168.jpg}
+
+One of the first things Tournier said he must see was the barracks.
+
+"They have just finished pulling them all down," said Cosin.  "Every
+building except Major Kelly's house, and the officers' quarters has been
+removed and the material sold by auction.  However, you would like to see
+the old spot.  I am sorry I cannot go with you to-morrow, but Alice can
+shew you the way if you have forgotten it!"
+
+So they rode there the next morning.
+
+"It seems like a dream," said Tournier, as he gazed for a long while upon
+the site where, as he too well knew, so many hearts had ached for years.
+"Who is going to live in the house of Major Kelly?"
+
+"He has bought it for himself, but he is not there now."
+
+"How I should have liked to see him.  He was a fine officer and an
+excellent man.  And now, Miss Cosin, will you mind going with me to
+another spot more interesting to me than even this, I mean the prisoners'
+burial ground, where my body would now have been laid but for your dear
+brother and you?"
+
+That last word would have made Alice willing to go anywhere, and she
+cheerfully consented to pay the rather doleful visit.
+
+When they reached the portion of the field where the interments had taken
+place, they let their horses nibble the grass, and silently surveyed the
+scanty mounds.
+
+Tournier was lost in thought, and Alice watched him.
+
+"Poor fellows, poor fellows," he said at length: "how many of them I have
+known!  Some of them were in my squadron.  Nearly all young, or in the
+prime of life--all dead before their time, worn out or broken-hearted."
+
+"How many, do you think, are buried here?" asked Alice.
+
+"Roughly speaking, I should say at least three or four hundred."
+
+"Will not the Government mark the spot, or at least raise some memorial
+to these brave men?"
+
+"I should think so," replied Tournier; "or if the English Government
+failed to do so, ours will not forget them.  And yet, the shameful
+butchery of Marshal Ney does not favour the idea.  They may look on them,
+as they did him, as soldiers of Napoleon, not of France."
+
+Then they slowly wended their way homeward, Tournier turning round on his
+saddle to take a last look at the place that interested him so deeply,
+and again exclaiming, "There should I be lying now, in a dishonoured
+grave, but for God's great mercy."
+
+That night, poor Alice could not sleep, but watered her pillow with
+tears.
+
+"He does not care for me a bit," she said; "he is just the same as he
+used to be, only stiffer in his manner.  But what does it matter?  I
+could never leave my darling brother; and what is more, I never will.  But
+he is so nice, nicer than ever."  And the tears came again, with a wee
+bit of vexation in them, and kept on at intervals, till kindly sleep at
+length fell on those dear blue eyes, and dried them up.
+
+And while this was going on, her brother and his friend were smoking and
+talking together below.
+
+"You must find it very wearysome, Tournier, to live by yourself now.  You
+are not the man to like that sort of thing.  You are too unselfish to be
+a confirmed bachelor.  Excuse me for touching on a painful subject, I use
+the privilege of a friend."
+
+"I thank you for doing so.  But the fact is, and _you_ cannot be
+surprised at it, I have lost all faith in a woman's constancy.  No doubt
+there are many of my countrywomen who would make me a happy man, but I
+don't know them, and do not mean to search them out."
+
+Cosin was silent.
+
+What good angel put it into Tournier's mind to come out with it? but he
+_did_ burst forth, after a pause, with the imprudent assertion, "The only
+woman in the world I know in whom anybody might place entire reliance is
+your sister.  Sure am I that the blue sky of Heaven does not more truly
+reflect the love of God than her blue eyes reflect constancy and truth!"
+
+Tournier felt he had betrayed himself, and was vexed.
+
+As to Cosin, he opened his eyes with amazement at the other's vehemence
+of manner.  Then a bright smile of surprise lighted up his face, and he
+said, "Why on earth then do you not ask her to be your wife?"
+
+"My dear fellow," replied Tournier, in his turn amazed, "you surely know
+why.  Did you not tell me years ago that she would always be your
+companion through life? and do you think I could be such a base scoundrel
+as to breathe one single syllable to her that might tempt her for even a
+moment to think of leaving you?"
+
+Cosin seemed really angry instead of pleased at this, and said severely,
+"And so _you_ thought _me_ such a selfish brute, that I would rather keep
+her sweet companionship to myself, and be her gaoler more than her
+brother, than give her a free woman's choice to marry anyone that was
+worthy of her, and on whom (lucky dog!) she had set her dear heart?  I do
+not thank you for the compliment."
+
+Tournier looked on his irritated friend with admiring surprise.  It was
+like the harsh grating of a heavy door that had hitherto barred his way
+to happiness, but was now opening.
+
+"The thing is," said Cosin in a milder tone, "does Alice like _you_?"
+
+"I cannot say.  She never did anything to make me suppose it.  But I was
+not observant, for I did not think about it."
+
+"And yet, silly fellow that I am," said Cosin, "I now remember how her
+face always lighted up when she heard about you, or we talked of your
+coming.  What a blind bat I have been!  Oh, how I hope she does like you.
+I am sure she must.  But you must find it out, and if she has any
+scruples left, tell her to come to me and I will satisfy her."
+
+And Tournier, nothing loth, did find it out next day.  The interview
+shall not be described, for such things are sometimes related with
+admirable taste and effect, but much more often are made ridiculous; and
+as this was pre-eminently sensible, natural and real, it shall not run
+the risk of being spoilt by any attempt of the kind.  It must be
+sufficient to say that the interview was perfectly successful, only Alice
+persisted in saying that, although she entirely and joyfully believed
+what Tournier told her about her brother, yet she must speak to him
+herself, and hear from his own lips that he gave a willing consent.  And
+Tournier only admired her the more for it.
+
+Away, therefore, she went with radiant face to seek her brother; nor did
+it take long to get his consent.  As she came into the room he
+forestalled her object, and folding her to his breast said, "Dear Alice,
+I know what you are going to say.  Your face tells the tale.  You have
+fulfilled, more than fulfilled, your loving duty to me.  Do one thing
+more to make me happy--go and make that dear good _fellow_ happy all the
+rest of his days.  And remember," he added, as he held her a little from
+him, and looked into her blushing face with pretended severity, "you
+shall never come under my roof again if you disobey me!  Come, I will
+give you to him myself."
+
+And they found Tournier awaiting the verdict without the slightest degree
+of suspense.
+
+"I have brought you your wife," Cosin cried.
+
+What followed may well be imagined by all but ill-natured people, who see
+no chance of their ever being placed in a similar predicament themselves.
+
+In the course of the evening, Cosin suddenly said with great gravity,
+amounting almost to solemnity, and looking first at Tournier, and then at
+Alice: "There is a matter that still remains to be settled.  You have run
+away, Tournier, with my wife, and it is only fit and right that you
+should make what compensation is in your power."
+
+Both the others were taken rather aback, especially as Cosin continued to
+seem very much in earnest.
+
+"There must be a marriage-settlement of some sort."
+
+"Assuredly," Tournier replied, relieved, but still somewhat puzzled.
+
+"Whatever you think right, I shall be delighted to do."
+
+"Do you really mean that?" said Cosin, still very seriously.
+
+"Indeed I do.  Everything I possess I would joyfully give to my sweet
+love," looking at her with intense affection.  "She is worth more than
+all I have beside."
+
+"But I want more than money and lands," persisted Cosin.  "Mind, you have
+agreed to do whatever I may propose."
+
+"Yes.  Anything you require.  I trust you as my own soul."
+
+"Then the marriage-settlement must be this: That so long as we all three
+live, you two shall come and spend a good part of the summer with me
+every year, and that you will let me spend a good part of every winter
+with you in your sunny home.  Provided always--here comes the lawyer--that
+if we do at any time wish to turn summer into winter, or winter into
+summer, we may do so by mutual agreement."
+
+"Could anything be better!" cried the others in great delight.  "Agreed,
+agreed."
+
+Then Cosin, no longer able to look grave, laughingly exclaimed, "Signed,
+sealed, and delivered."
+
+A few weeks after, Captain Tournier went over to France to prepare his
+house for the reception of his bride.  He did not stop long, but returned
+with a heart full of gratitude to God, and joyful expectation of a happy
+future.
+
+They were married in Yaxley Church in the presence of a crowded
+congregation.  More than half the people who attended could see nothing
+because of the bullock-boxes: but they were there, and their hearts too.
+And when the grand old bells pealed forth a joyous welcome, the
+bridegroom could hardly repress a tear (only one!) for they reminded him
+how often the merry sound that now so truly harmonized with his
+over-brimming joy, had seemed of old to mock his misery as he listened to
+them from within his prison walls.
+
+* * * * *
+
+Their happy union, to compare small things with great, may be taken as an
+emblem of the _entente cordiale_ that ought ever to subsist between the
+two countries of France and England, and which can only be jeopardized by
+that rabid journalism which, with slight occasion, or none at all, seems
+always to take delight in doing its utmost to "let loose the dogs of
+war."
+
+One word more.
+
+The two stone bosses which for many years have capped the piers of the
+west gateway of Yaxley Churchyard, formerly occupied the same position on
+the piers of the principal entrance to the Norman Cross Barracks.  And
+when the poor prisoners of old passed between them, they were entering
+the place of captivity and grief and hopelessness.  But now, as the good
+Yaxley people pass between the same bosses to go into their noble House
+of Prayer, they may rejoice in the thought that they are entering the
+place where liberty and peace and everlasting hope await them as the gift
+of God, through Jesus Christ their Saviour.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+
+{17}  See account of the battle of Vimiero in Napier's History of the
+Peninsular War, Book II, Chapter V.
+
+{44}  This is fact, not fiction.  It would be interesting to know the
+history of this good man after the prisoners were discharged in 1814.  One
+thing is certain, that he must ever have enjoyed a feast of memory to his
+dying day in having been a shepherd and bishop of souls to these poor
+prisoners.
+
+{133}  It is much to be regretted that the ravenous curiosity of a former
+vicar has since made this very hole.  A wooden box was found with a heart
+inside in perfect form, but which instantly crumbled to dust when exposed
+to the air.  The dust was returned to the cavity, and the box is kept at
+the Vicarage; but an aromatic odour still impregnates the box, just as
+the church William of Yaxley built still preserves the holy use to which
+it was devoted.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FRENCH PRISONERS OF NORMAN
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