July evening, about seven
o'clock
Except lately at Nantes , the Vendeans had as yet incurred no great reverse ; they had not , therefore , learnt to fear that their houses would be attacked and burnt ; their corn and cattle destroyed ; and even their wives and children massacred . The troops which had now been dispatched by the Convention for the subjection of the country , were of a very different character from those with whom the Vendeans had as yet contended , and the royalists were not long before they experienced all the horrors of a civil war , in which quarter was refused them by their enemies , and mercy even to children was considered as a crime . When Santerre rode up to the door of the château , ten men might have taken possession of Durbellière . It was a fine July evening , about seven o'clock . The old Marquis had been wheeled in his easy chair out of the house , to the top of the broad steps which led from the back of the château into the garden . Agatha was sitting at his feet on the top step , reading to him , and the little Chevalier Mondyon , who retained no semblance of the soldier about his person , except the red scarf round his waist , was seated straddle-legged atop of one of the huge white lions which guarded the entrance . `` Agatha , I hear horsemen , '' said the boy , jumping off his seat .