Belle-Rose — page 351: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

340. A PLEASANT JOURNEY. Ferté for us; Monsieur de Charny’s men will not go so far | as to rub against the artillery.’”’ Along the route which they followed from Arras to -Marchienne, the flowery plains were lit up by a thousand fires. In the silence of the night was to be heard the songs of the soldiers who. were drinking in the _ bivouacs. Couriers passed at a gallop, carrying orders to divers corps, and in the midst of the shadows was to be seen silent reziments advancing over the plains like gigantic boa-constrictors. Monsieur de Luxembourg was in com- mand of the army on the frontier. Order and activity reigned everywhere. ‘The illustrious captain who was one day to succeed the Prince de Condé and the Vicomte de Turenne, and sustain the honor of the French flag, had established among the troops an exact and rigid discipline. Careless, irregular, voluptuous in his private life, he brought to the affairs of war a promptitude, a firmness which imposed respect and obedience. His glance had that clearness and that certainty which make great generals; his bravery equaled that of the Prince de Condé. If he had not yet accomplished those great things and gained those furious battles which were to carry his reputation so high, it had been seen, even in the first campaigns, that he had in him the germ of his brilliant qualities. He had the esteem of the chiefs and the confidence of the soldiers. | In proportion as he advanced in the direction of Marchi- enne, the sight of the places recalled to Belle-Rose one of the most terrible episodes of his stormy life. He saw from the top of a hill the little pavilion-where Genevieve had bade him such asad farewell; and, upon a part of the bank washed by the Sambre, the lugubrious spot where Monsieur de Villebrais had uttered his three cries of agony. The old willow was still there, bathing its branches in the water. When Belle-Rose reached Marchienne-le- Pont, he found the residence of Monsieur de Luxembourg surrounded by officers and aides-de-camp. The day had just began, and its first-rays had awakened the great hive where buzzed twenty thousand soldiers. Horses already — saddled were prancing around the pickets. Monsieur de Luxembourg was expediting his dispatches. An order was necessary to reach him. Belle-Rose dismounted; Déroute did not have enough eyes for looking at the parks of artillery, the tents, the stacks of arms; a thousand wild exclamations came from his lips. He had just recognized three or four sub-officers who had served in the regiment of La Ferté, and was bubbling over with impatience. Just — comicbooks co