Belle Rose: A Romance of the Cloak and Sword — page 370: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

352 A RAY OF SUNSHINE. uponadrum. The sun was sinking toward the horizon; rosy clouds floated in the luminous sky and were chased by a warm wind. Monsieur de Pomereux’s eyes seemed to seek there a fugitive image; a sweet serenity was spread over his features; the reflection of a happy thought could be read upon them. ‘‘It seems to me that death is an awakening,’’ said he, ‘it unites those whom life has separated.”’ His eyes lost their luster; he murmured the name of Gabrielle and died. At this moment a thousand cries rose from all sides, the drums beat in the fields, the cavaliers shook their hats which were stuck to the ends of their swords and the clarions sounded. Louis XIV. was passing the Rhine. CHAPTER LII. A RAY OF SUNSHINE. The Rhine was crossed. When night came, the French army camped upon the right shore; before it extended the sereat plains of Holland. Victory had crowned its first efforts. The soldiers, animated by the ardor of combat, grouped themselves around the bivouac fires and related to each other the incidents of this day. A crowd of officers thronged around the habitation of Louis XIV. In the in- toxication excited by this passage, the glorious monarch already saw the presage of his entrance into Amsterdam. He did not know that between him and the old capital of HoHand he would find William of Orange. The generals came to present their compliments to the king and to take his orders. The halls were filled with brilliant uniforms; the best gentlemen of France were there; some failed the reunion—these were dead. Everybody had traversed the Rhine, but no one yet knew how it had been passed. A man had thrown himself into the river, a company had followed him, then a regiment, then the army, and they had arrived, sword in hand, at the Dutch entrenchments. ‘Do you know, messieurs, the name of the gentleman who found the ford?”’ said the king, addressing himself to the circle who surrounded him. ‘‘Sire,’’ replied Monsieur de Luxembourg, “‘it is an officer of your army; but this officer is not a gentleman.’’ ‘‘But,’? proudly answered Louis XIV., ‘‘if I call him thus, it is apparently because he ought to be one,”’ S} (oy fh) (E(0) ‘ | aa