Page:Ten Years Later.djvu/65

Rh TEN YEARS LATER. 55 was directed toward the little bark; at one moment it re- mained suspended upon the crest of the foaming waves, then suddenly glided downward toward the bottom of a roaring abyss, where it seemed utterly lost within it. At the expiration of an hour's struggling with the waves it reached the spot where the admiral's vessel was anchored, and from the side of which two boats had already been dis- patched toward their aid. Upon the quarter-deck of the flag-ship, sheltered by a canopy of velvet and ermine, which v/as suspended by stout supports, Mme. Henrietta, the queen dowager, and the young princess — with the admiral, the Duke of Norfolk, standing beside them — watched with alarm this slender bark, at one moment carried to the heavens, and the next buried beneath the waves, and against whose dark sail the noble figures of the two French noblemen stood forth in relief like two luminous appari- tions. The crew, leaning against the bulwarks, and cling- ing to the shrouds, cheered the courage of the two daring young men, the skill of the pilot, and the strength of the sailors. They were received at the side of the vessel by a shout of triumph. The Duke of Norfolk, a handsome young man, from twenty-six to twenty-eight years of age, advanced to meet them. De Guiche and Bragelonne lightly mounted the ladder on the starboard side, and, conducted by the Duke of Norfolk, who resumed his place near them, they approached to offer their homage to the princesses. Re- spect, and yet more, a certain apprehension, for which he could not account, had hitherto restrained the Comte de Guiche from looking at madame attentively, who, however, had observed him immediately, and had asked her mother: "Is not that Monsieur in the boat yonder?" Mme. Henrietta, Avho knew Monsieur better than her daughter did, smiled at the mistake her vanity had led her into, and had answered: "No; it is only Monsieur de Guiche, his favorite." The princess, at this reply, had been obliged to check an instinctive tenderness of feeling which the courage dis- played by the count had awakened. At the very moment the princess had put this question to her mother, De Guiche had, at last, summoned courage to raise his eyes toward her, and could compare the original with the portrait he had so lately seen. No sooner had he remarked her pale face, her eyes so full of animation, her beautiful nut-brown hair, her expressive lips, and her every gesture, which, while betoken- ing her royal descent, seemed to thank and to encourage