But he was losing blood fast.
Every instant his huge strength ebbed away. With a supreme effort he
staggered to his feet, the three of us hanging on to him like hounds on
to a bear. Then, with a shout of rage and despair which thundered
through the whole castle, his knees gave way under him, and he fell in a
huge inert heap upon the floor, his black beard bristling up towards the
ceiling. We all stood panting round, ready to spring upon him if he
should move; but it was over. He was dead.
Savary, deadly pale, was leaning with his hand to his side against the
table. It was not for nothing that those mighty arms had been thrown
round him.
'I feel as if I had been hugged by a bear,' said he. 'Well, there is
one dangerous man the less in France, and the Emperor has lost one of
his enemies. And yet he was a brave man too!'
'What a soldier he would have made!' said Gerard thoughtfully. 'What a
quartermaster for the Hussars of Bercheny! He must have been a very
foolish person to set his will against that of the Emperor.'
I had seated myself, sick and dazed, upon the settee, for scenes of
bloodshed were new to me then, and this one had been enough to shock the
most hardened.
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