“And you, M. Denot,” said the Prince.  Adolphe Denot especially disliked Cathelineau:  he was jealous of his reputation and popularity:  he could not bear to feel himself in any way under the control of a man so much his inferior in rank; he fancied, moreover, that Cathelineau regarded Agatha Larochejaquelin; he had been quick enough to perceive that the ineffable grace and beauty of his mistress had filled the heart of the poor postillion with admiration, and he feared that his own rejection had been caused by some mutual feeling in Agatha’s breast, which future events might warm into love.  Adolphe, therefore, hated Cathelineau, and would have delighted, had he dared to do so, to express his disapprobation of the choice; but, after pausing for a few moments, he found that he did not dare; so he merely said: 

“Oh, Cathelineau, of course.  When you are all resolved, what’s the use of voting about it?”

“To show that we all are resolved,” said de Lescure; “to make Cathelineau understand that it is positively his duty to take the position we wish him to fill.”

And so, one after another, they all recorded their votes that Cathelineau should be the Commander-in-Chief of the Vendean army; and they all declared that they would, without reserve, obey any military orders, which he might give them.

“Well, gentlemen,” said he, again seating himself at the head of the table, “I should pay but a bad compliment to your understanding, were I any further to insist on my own unworthiness.  I will not, at any rate, be wanting in zeal for the good cause, and I will trust to Him who directs us all, for assistance in the difficult duties which you have imposed on me.”

They then debated on the all-important question of what should be their next movement, and on this subject there was much difference of opinion.  Bonchamps was again asked to speak first, and he advised that they should at once proceed to Paris.

“We can do nothing,” said he, “while the present Convention sits in Paris; it has but one head, but it has ten thousand bloody hands.  There can be no peace, no rest in France, while Danton, Robespierre and Barrere are omnipotent.  Let us at once start for Paris:  Brittany will join us, and parts of Normandy; the Southerns will follow us; the men of Bordeaux and of the Gironde:  have not their own orators, the leaders of the Revolution, been murdered in their seats, because they were not willing that all France should become one Golgotha?  Lyons, even, and Marseilles, are now sick of the monsters who have crawled forth from the haunts of the Jacobins to depopulate the country, and annihilate humanity.  There is now but a small faction, even in Paris, to whom the restoration of order would not be acceptable. .The intensity of their cruelty is the only strength of the governing faction; the extent of their abominations alone makes them terrible.  Hundreds will fly from one Indian snake, so potent is its venom, so sure