"Let us go in and await what may befall; I dread what the ty"--here he
prudently checked himself, remembering, no doubt, "that a bird of the air
might carry the matter,"--"I dread what he may do, if they are really
investing the place. At any rate, here, in the very arena where the
struggle will doubtless be fiercest, we cannot abide. So go, my dear
sisters, and pack up whatever you may have most valuable, or most
necessary. Nay, no tears; and I will attend to our poor old father, and
get the carriage ready, if, God help me, I dare use it."
"But where, in the name of all that is fearful, shall we go?" said his
second sister. "Not back to Hamburgh--not to endure another season of such
deep degradation--not to be exposed to the Oh brother, you saw we all
submitted to our fate without a murmur, and laboured cheerfully on the
fortifications, when compelled to do so, by that inhuman monster Davoust,
amidst the ribaldry of a licentious soldiery, merely because poor Janette
had helped to embroider a standard for the brave Hanseatic Legion you know
how we bore this"--here the sweet girl held out her delicate hands, galled
by actual and unwonted labour and many other indignities, until that awful
night, when--No, brother, we shall await the arrival of the Russians, even
should we see our once happy home converted into a field of battle; but
into the city we shall not go."
"Be it so, then, my dearest, sister.
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