Strona 586 z 896

They travelled in the night, halting an hour or two after

daybreak, and lying by until the twilight fell. The escort were

so wretchedly clothed, that they twisted straw round their bare

legs, and thatched their ragged shoulders to keep the wet off.

Apart from the personal discomfort of being so attended, and

apart from such considerations of present danger as arose from

one of the patriots being chronically drunk, and carrying his

musket very recklessly, Charles Darnay did not allow the

restraint that was laid upon him to awaken any serious fears in

his breast; for, he reasoned with himself that it could have no

reference to the merits of an individual case that was not yet

stated, and of representations, confirmable by the prisoner in

the Abbaye, that were not yet made.