Page:The Works of Honoré de Balzac Volume 29.djvu/87

Rh "Simpleton!" replied the banker; "I nave ten thousand francs there," and he held out his great shoes. "How is one to show fight with a large sum like that about one?"

Mène-à-Bien scratched his ear and sent a glance behind him, but his new friends were quite out of sight.

At Ernée Hulot and his men halted a while to leave the wounded in the hospital in the little town, and finally arrived at Mayenne without any further annoyance. The next day put an end to the commandant's doubts as to the fate of the stage-coach, for everybody knew how it had been stopped and plundered.

A few days after, the authorities directed upon Mayenne enough patriot conscripts to fill the gaps in Hulot's demi-brigade. Very soon one disquieting rumor followed another concerning the insurrection. There was complete revolt at all the points which had been the centres of rebellion for Chouans and Vendeans in the late war. In Brittany the Royalists had made themselves masters of Pontorson, thus securing their communication with the sea. The little town of Saint James, between Pontorson and Fougères had been taken by them, and it appeared that they meant to make it their temporary headquarters, their central magazine, and basis of operations. Thence they kept up a correspondence with Normandy and Morbihan in security. The Royalists of the three provinces were brought into concerted action by subaltern officers dispersed throughout the country, who recruited partisans for the Monarchy, and gave unity to their methods. Exactly similar reports came from La Vendée, where conspiracy was rife in the country under the guidance of four well-known leaders—the Counts of Fontaine, Chatillon, and Suzannet, and the Abbé Vernal. In Orne their correspondents were said to be the Chevalier de Valois, the Marquis of Escrignon, and the Troisvilles. The real head and centre of the vast and formidable plan of operations, that gradually became manifest, was the Gars, for so the Chouans had dubbed the Marquis of Montauran since his arrival among them.