LOUIS DUVAL.

appeared. There were no signs of traffic on the roads,
any more than signs of life in the fields. No men,
no cattle, were to be seen throughout the valley. The
little village of St. Clair was now only a mournful
assemblage of ruined, blackened walls. The Chateau
was also in ruins, and both Chateau and village were,
to all appearance, deserted. In two respects only was
the scene unaltered : the valley was still three parts
encircled with its belt of thick forest, and on the fourth
side the river still hemmed it in.
 How did these changes come to pass ? They were
the work of the revolution, which Henry Duval had
said was so glorious. The people of that part of
France in which was Anjou, had not wished for a re-
volution. They were quite satisfied that the world-
their littleworld-should roll on as it had done long
before they were born. So when all the rest of
France was full of disturbance-turned upside down
-the people of La Vendge, as this part of the country
was called, went on quietly, cultivating their ground,
and grumbling only when they heard news of the
great revolution.
 But they were not allowed to remain thus quiet
and tranquil; for as fast as the revolution gained
strength, new laws were put in force, and against these
the people of La Vendee rebelled; and very soon after
Louis Duval left St. Clair, there began to be great dis-
turbances all around, in which the poor and the rich,
the landlords and their tenants and labourers, held
together against the new order of things. When
tidings were brought to them that the king was no
longer a king, but a prisoner, the Vendeans were very
angry; but when, six months afterwards, it was told
them that this poor prisoner had been brought to trial
and condemned, and had really lost his head, as well