I will only say of myself upon that evening that I
surpassed my expectations, and was privileged to delight my hosts.
Little by little they forgot their terrors and I my caution; until
at last we were brought back to earth by a catastrophe that might
very easily have been foreseen, but was not the less astonishing to
us when it occurred.
I had filled all the glasses. 'I have a toast to propose,' I
whispered, 'or rather three, but all so inextricably interwoven
that they will not bear dividing. I wish first to drink to the
health of a brave and therefore a generous enemy. He found me
disarmed, a fugitive and helpless. Like the lion, he disdained so
poor a triumph; and when he might have vindicated an easy valour,
he preferred to make a friend. I wish that we should next drink to
a fairer and a more tender foe. She found me in prison; she
cheered me with a priceless sympathy; what she has done since, I
know she has done in mercy, and I only pray--I dare scarce hope--
her mercy may prove to have been merciful. And I wish to conjoin
with these, for the first, and perhaps the last time, the health--
and I fear I may already say the memory--of one who has fought, not
always without success, against the soldiers of your nation; but
who came here, vanquished already, only to be vanquished again by
the loyal hand of the one, by the unforgettable eyes of the other.
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