378 The Wife of the Polish Patriot. [ApniL, 



parent God hath left him, through a country which, to a Frenchwoman, 

 and the widow of a Polish rebel, would afford nothing but a grave. 

 Ladoinski fought under the banners of France his boy claims French 

 protection. Ladoinski took up the sword of the patriot under the smile 

 of your emperor shall his son, generous princes, ask in vain a passage 

 to the Country in defence of whose rights his father found an untimely 

 grave ?" " No, by Heavens !" said Murat, answering rather his own 

 feelings than any plan he had conceived for the unfortunate widow's 

 safety. " The King of Naples," observed Eugene, kindly explaining, 

 " heads our cavalry, and, therefore, must be in the van of our army. 

 The emperor's division leaves Smolensk on the 13th, mine will follow 

 on the 14th; I offer you such protection as the commander of soldiers 

 drooping with fatigue, shivering with cold, and harassed by a sleepless 

 enemy, may tender. The divisions of Davoust and Ney will leave 

 Smolensk yet later. You will thus gain a few days' farther shelter, but 

 will be more exposed in the march that follows. The rear of a retreat- 

 ing army holds out small guarantee for female safety. You have your 

 choice." The helpless young mother instantly closed with the prince's 

 offer ; and unaccustomed to the world, or to camps, excited a smile in 

 both potentates, by seeming to suppose that she was to prosecute her 

 journey in the immediate company of the viceroy. " Good, on my 

 word," said the unkingly sovereign of Naples, laughing aloud. " Tete- 

 a-tete, I suppose, all the way to Wilna give you joy, Viceroy. Not a 

 bad thing, by St. Denis though, now I bethink me, San Gennaro 

 were the more fitting saint in my mouth forget all my Neapolitan good 

 habits among these Scythian snows." The viceroy, without paying 

 much attention to the mirth of his regal companion, delivered, inMurat's 

 presence, orders to his followers for the conveyance of his delicate 

 young protegee in one of the military baggage-waggons, and authorita- 

 tively gave out, that he would hold both soldier and driver responsible 

 for her safety and fair treatment. " There are other female refugees 

 from Moscow in Smolensk," he added ; " let two or three of those hap- 

 less womerf find a place in the same vehicle with this lady; and if they 

 reach Poland in safety, I will give five hundred francs with my own 

 hand to each driver. Look to it." The grateful mother clasped her 

 hands, and solemnly invoked a blessing on the generous prince. " God 

 return your Highness's kindness tenfold into your bosom," she ejacu- 

 lated. " Amid public trouble and personal danger you have not closed 

 your heart to the cry of the fatherless. May the Sovereign of earthly 

 princes bring you in safety through the dangers that throng your path 

 may your dying bed be far from the field of blood, surrounded by 

 faces of love, and smoothed by domestic tenderness and when the son 

 you best love clasps his father's knees, and looks up in his face for a 

 blessing, let the boy whom you have saved return plehsantly on your 

 memory." Eugene took the boy, and stooped over him for a moment, 

 perhaps to hide the feelings which the unaffected warmth of this half- 

 prophetic address excited. " Alas ! good madam," he said, not without 

 emotion, " I were worse than cruel to excite a confidence in your 

 bosom which my want of power (for my will I dare boldly answer) 

 may render groundless. I have said that I can only tender you the pro- 

 tecting swords of enfeebled arms, the shield of a tottering general, the 

 precarious shelter of heavy vehicles, that may be abandoned in the per- 

 secuted and tantalized retreat we are entering on. To the God you have 



