They bade him look around on the famishing wretches who lay about the streets; they bade him look on his perishing wife and dying child; they described the hopeless state of things, the cruel perseverance of their foes, and they besought him to give consent that they should treat with the besiegers.
"Is it even so ?" said Guiton; "you all desire it?
Take, then, this poniard; you know the condition on which I accepted office, you know I swore to stab to the heart the first man who should speak of surrender; let me be the victim; but never hope that I will participate in the infamy which you propose to me." These words produced their effect; those most resolved on submission were turned from their project, and all retired from his presence abashed, and determined to suffer still.

But the famine continued, increased, no succour arrived, and human fortitude could endure no more; the Rochellois opened their gates, and Richelieu was triumphant.

But where was Jean Guiton ?--that question remains to be answered to this day.
He was never seen more; some have thought that he was assassinated by those who feared his resentment or his opposition; or by those who considered him still formidable, though fallen; others imagined that the king, to whom his talents as a seaman were known, and who admired the firmness of his character, had seduced him, by offers of great advantage, to abandon his party and enter his service.

There is a tradition that he distinguished himself in the armies of Louis, under an assumed name, and became a terror to the enemies of France.

Again, he is said to have been condemned to perpetual imprisonment; and again, to have spent his days in exile from his native land, having fled from the town at the time of its reduction.
Whatever his fate may have been, it is unknown; and conjecture alone fills up the blank.