I need not dwell at any length upon the sequel.
It is a matter of history how that oath which Omnes
Omnibus administered to the citizens of Nantes formed
the backbone of the formal protest which they drew
up and signed in their thousands. Nor were the
results of that powerful protest — which, after
all, might already be said to harmonize with the expressed
will of the sovereign himself — long delayed.
Who shall say how far it may have strengthened the
hand of Necker, when on the 27th of that same month
of November he compelled the Council to adopt the
most significant and comprehensive of all those measures
to which clergy and nobility had refused their consent?
On that date was published the royal decree ordaining
that the deputies to be elected to the States General
should number at least one thousand, and that the
deputies of the Third Estate should be fully representative
by numbering as many as the deputies of clergy and
nobility together.
THE AFTERMATH
Dusk of the following day was falling when the homing
Andre-Louis approached Gavrillac. Realizing
fully what a hue and cry there would presently be
for the apostle of revolution who had summoned the
people of Nantes to arms, he desired as far as possible
to conceal the fact that he had been in that maritime
city. Therefore he made a wide detour, crossing
the river at Bruz, and recrossing it a little above
Chavagne, so as to approach Gavrillac from the north,
and create the impression that he was returning from
Rennes, whither he was known to have gone two days
ago.
Within a mile or so of the village he caught in the
fading light his first glimpse of a figure on horseback
pacing slowly towards him. But it was not until
they had come within a few yards of each other, and
he observed that this cloaked figure was leaning forward
to peer at him, that he took much notice of it.
And then he found himself challenged almost at once
by a woman’s voice.
“It is you, Andre — at last!”
He drew rein, mildly surprised, to be assailed by
another question, impatiently, anxiously asked.
“Where have you been?”
“Where have I been, Cousin Aline? Oh...
seeing the world.”
“I have been patrolling this road since noon
to-day waiting for you.” She spoke breathlessly,
in haste to explain. “A troop of the marechaussee
from Rennes descended upon Gavrillac this morning in
quest of you. They turned the chateau and the
village inside out, and at last discovered that you
were due to return with a horse hired from the Breton
arme. So they have taken up their quarters at
the inn to wait for you. I have been here all
the afternoon on the lookout to warn you against walking
into that trap.”
“My dear Aline! That I should have been
the cause of so much concern and trouble!”
“Never mind that. It is not important.”
