The orders were carried out in a few minutes without noise or
confusion. The Count, with La Corne St. Luc, whose countenance bore
a concentration of sorrow and anger wonderful to see, hastened down
to the house of mourning. Claude Beauharnais and Rigaud de
Vaudreuil followed hastily after them. They pushed through the
crowd that filled the Rue Buade, and the people took off their hats,
while the air resounded with denunciations of the Friponne and
appeals for vengeance upon the assassin of the Bourgeois.
The Governor and his companions were moved to tears at the sight of
their murdered friend lying in his bloody vesture, which was open to
enable the worthy Dr. Gauthier, who had run in all haste, to examine
the still oozing wound. The Recollet Brother Daniel still knelt in
silent prayer at his feet, while Dame Rochelle with trembling hands
arranged the drapery decently over her dead master, repeating to
herself:
"It is the end of trouble, and God has mercifully taken him away
before he empties the vials of his wrath upon this New France, and
gives it up for a possession to our enemies! What says the prophet?
'The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart, and merciful
men are taken away, none considering that the righteous are taken
away from the evil to come!'"
The very heart of La Corne St.
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