might at least visit her brother, and he would speedily return with her again; but the poor girl refused with tears to desert her father for an instant. During a momentary absence she had just incurred fearful dangers, and she trembled as she thought of the condition of her parent, had any thing ill befallen her. Disappointed and chagrined, Henri took his leave, with a promise to Emilie to return with her brother.

When the happy discovery was communicated to him, Auguste's gratification was not unmixed; for he had begun to think that his father had effected his escape from the city. He had just returned from the Assembly, where the session had been unusually stormy. Sharing in all the agitations of the capital upon the rumored advance of the Prussian army to the frontiers, the news of the capture of Longy, which had come that day, had excited a ferment sufficient to warp the judgments of the most moderate of the deputies; while the menaces of the municipality awed those who still retained their self-possession. Not content then with decreeing death against any one who should propose surrender to the foe, the most stringent measures had been taken to detect and imprison every dangerous person. Auguste knew that in the close search which would shortly be set on foot, his father could not possibly escape discovery in his present refuge; and it was wonderful to him that he had so long baffled pursuit. Nor on the other hand was he at all confident of being able himself effectually to secure his parent, even if humbling himself before him, and neglecting no means in his power, he should finally prevail on the old man to accept his protection. Harassed with these conflicting thoughts, he returned with Henri. Haughty as the baron was, and sternly as he conceived his heart hardened against his son, paternal affection proved too strong for his determination; and without a word of explanation, they embraced and mutually forgave.

It did not now demand much effort from any one to accomplish their departure. Fortunately they arrived without accident at their destination. Here Auguste pointed out the hiding-place he had prepared. It was a simple closet behind the wainscot, the heavy hangings concealing the secret entrance. It had formerly been used to store valuables. Many of the houses in Paris contained similar recesses; but unfortunately their insecurity was in proportion to their number. It was Auguste's hope however that the police, thus far unable to discover his father, would believe him to have escaped from the capital; while his own high position as a member of the nominally-ruling party in the state, joined to the democratic character of his companion, would save him from suspicion and consequent investigation of the premises. Two or three days passed in tranquillity, and they all began to indulge hope. The baron, only retiring when some stranger arrived, seemed less melancholy in the midst of his family. Henri's respectful and devoted but manly attention to Emily fostered her attachment and inspired her with new esteem for him. No longer dwelling in a lordly castle, inequality of condition ceased to enkindle her pride, or raise her too high for

her own happiness; and they had already begun to devise plans of escape from the city, when their tranquillity was interrupted.

It was the fair twilight of a summer's evening; and as Henri reentered the gates, from the performance of a duty (assigned him by his club) with the camp outside the barriers, he was struck with astonishment at the profound and unnatural silence resting upon the immense capital. The street, a few hours before so populous and lively, seemed very sombre and desolate. He walked on amazed.

Still every thing appeared only calculated to augment his wonder. No gay groups thronged the gardens; he met no animated companies, discussing the events of the day. The shops, wont to be so brilliantly attractive, were all closed and dark; even the Palais Royal, the scene of such wild revelry a year before, and which continued a popular resort while Phillip Egalité lived, was desolate ; the fall and play of the fountains awoke only the echoes, and the great churches, whose solemn repose had been intruded on by patriotic women, in preparing necessaries for the camp, looked still again, and undisturbed. To his surprise he saw two armed guardships stationed upon the winding river. The flying pace and terrified visages of the few persons he encountered did not prevent his inquiring what had happened to cause this unnatural state of things: he now learned that the Assembly had closed the barriers for fortyeight hours, and the police of the Commune were about to visit every house and seize every man against whom rested the shadow of an imputation. They had done this with the design of rooting out the traitors in their midst, who were supposed to be ready to cooperate with the invading army; and, as their distorted fancy suggested, about to murder wives and children, while their protectors were advancing with the army; and thus they intended not only to gain possession of the persons of those who had plotted treachery, but all the disaffected, and at once utterly to disconcert and render nugatory every embryo plot and cabal. Stimulated by the thrice-repeated sentiment of Danton, that boldness alone could preserve them in the crisis, they had allowed him to dictate this measure as the first exercise of their resolution. But although the leading Jacobins and the Municipality were in the secret, they were not at all aware of the awful evening of the deed; the gates, as we said, were accordingly closed for two days. No exit from the city was permitted, on any pretext whatever, and any one discovered in the fields in the neighborhood of the city was to be stopped. When the drum beat, each citizen must repair to his house and await the official visitors; while during the night the streets and lanes were to be illuminated, to make sure that they were clear even of carriages; and to crown all, in order that the inexorable commissioners might arrest every person not found at his own home, all the Sectional Assemblies and the great Tribunal itself adjourned for the two days!

Such was the measure whose immediate effects Henri already perceived; and as he quickened his speed to a run, he heard the wary and interrupted knock of the muffled hammer within many a barred door, vainly preparing a place of concealment. He found

his friends collected, calm and resigned to whatever fate awaited them. They had been informed of the danger, and though they yet hoped that discovery might not be inevitable, they endeavored to be prepared for it. Stifling the expression of his feelings, Auguste contemplated every avenue and chance of present and future escape. He too felt that discovery might possibly be avoided; but if found, what would be his father's fate! If escaping immediate execution, or neglected in the prison, would not its noxious atmosphere and solitude prey upon his life? There was indeed one hope; his own services and the friendship of the Minister of State; that hope however was abated by the reflection that Roland was not the prime mover in these measures, nor was it in his power to free any one suspected, from the jurisdiction of the recently-instituted tribunal, which was entirely under the influence of the Commune, where Danton reigned supreme. Still it was almost his only hope, and he clung to it. Mournfully and quick the moments now glided on to the decisive instant; tearful were Emilie's eyes, as she took one long embrace of her father, it might be the last; Henri, mute but resolved, looked on; he clasped her cold hand; she read his calm stern look, and despair fell crushingly upon her soul. At this moment the mournful tap of the drum was heard in the distance, sounding sharp and clear in the unbroken stillness. Hastily closing the little panel door, Auguste adjusted the cumbrous hangings in natural folds, and all awaited the result.

It was a strange progress, that of the Commissioners of Search. Over the silent city the sullen single peal of the bells announced the first hour after midnight, and issuing from the Hotel de Ville, with heavy tramp and the rattle of arms, their noises only made the universal stillness more appalling. It seemed a march through a city of the dead; but as the band diverged, and spread through the thousand thoroughfares, lighted up with the blaze of day, confusion and terror soon changed the scene. Shouting and laughing, the soldiers of the Commune marched on, thundering at open doors and battering down those which offered the least impediment. The crashing of glass, and the falling timber of partitions suspected of affording a lurking place, mingled with the protestations and cries of those hurrying to the Hotel de Ville and the different prisons, and still through all the steady advance of the guards and officers, with the monotonous beat of the drum, left no hope.

Sinks and garrets were no hiding-places then. Half suffocated between feather-beds, half drowned in cisterns, the wretched culprits were dragged forth. Sometimes fear defeated its own end, and the secure wretch perished in his lurking-place. Wainscottings nailed too tightly upon them, pressed to death, or too closely-bunged casks suffocated the unhappy fugitive: not unfrequently the groan of unendurable agony indicated but too accurately the refuge of the victim.

Nearer still sounded the footsteps of the relentless band, and louder grew the uproar in the Quartier Lepelletier. Pale and trembling, Emilie knelt in prayer. With a wise forethought Henri

had gone to his former lodgings, the better to preserve his democracy from suspicion, and thus be more able to assist the baron in any emergency consequent upon his arrest. And now they are in the court; they ascend the stairs; Auguste goes to meet them; without hesitancy, the officers and men throng into the room; and well-practised by this time, they proceed at once to tear down the hangings and sound the floor. The master remonstrated. 'Sir,' said the chief of the division, we know that the Count de Chabotte is here; if you will surrender him, well; if not, your apartments may be destroyed in the search.'

At these terrible words, pronounced in a business-like way, Emilie already nearly dead from excess of terror, could endure no longer. She threw herself at the feet of the stern soldier: 'Save, save my father!' she chokingly ejaculated, and fell motionless be

fore him.

'That's a royalist girl, comrades,' said the brutal chief; 'had n't we better take her too?'

Here is the order of the Commune that she shall be untouched,' said one of the men, coming forward.

'How now? Where did this come from?' replied the leader. 'I informed on that condition, Sir,' said the man.

Then you shall be yourself arrested. Seize him! To the Communes with him! Let them release him!'

This deluded man, the same whom Henri had knocked down in his pursuit of Emilie, having recovered from that blow, determined to discover something of her, and had patiently watched the premises and awaited her coming out. He had seen Henri's exit and return, and had followed the party unnoticed to the present abode. Finding himself so far baffled, he gave information of the occurrence to the police, upon the condition we have mentioned; supposing that, her defenders being arrested, the victim would be helpless. The Commune, by the aid of Danton's previous information, were at no loss to identify the person of the old man, and though they gave the promise, they were not unwilling to condemn its requirer; when, as we have seen, he fell into their hands as a 'suspected' person. Hardly had he been marched off, when the object of their search was drawn from his concealment, and three men were deputed to conduct him to the committee of the section, where he was to undergo a preparatory examination; and as Emilie remained still insensible, the disorderly gang soon withdrew, without carrying out their captain's suggestion. Auguste would very gladly have accompanied his father, but his apparently dying sister demanded all his attention. The father's mind was made up; and with one glance of mingled agony and love toward them, he turned to proceed upon his way, apparently unmoved.

Long and assiduously did her brother bathe the icy temples of the prostrate form before him. He chafed her hands, and used all the restoratives in his possession. With the morning light the patrol withdrew to the trial of their arrests their nocturnal prey. The dismal tapping of the drum ceased, and men ventured into the streets

once more.

With the first blush of day, Henri hastened to learn the fate of all he held most dear on earth. Sad indeed was the sight which greeted him! By his aid Auguste was enabled to summon a physician, and to their unspeakable joy, toward noon Emilie revived a little from her death-like swoon.

Snatching the first moment, Auguste hastened to Roland to discover the fate of his father. The minister did not know, but he felt so deep a sympathy for his young friend that he left the pressing calls of his office, and accompanied him to the department of Danton: he found him surrounded by officials and buried in the details of the last night's work. 'He could attend to nothing now,' he said; 'the State demanded his energies;' but at Roland's earnest entreaty, he agreed to receive and hear Henri the next evening. During the intervening time Auguste made up his mind to throw himself wholly upon the mercy of the Dictator. He perceived indeed that it was his only chance; there could be no doubt that his father had fought for the king on the tenth of August, and had been high in honor and repute under the monarchy; and he could not deny that should the foreign army appear under the batteries of Paris, the old veteran would be among the very foremost to raise the banner of sedition. There could be no doubt therefore of his condemnation if he came to trial.

As for escape, the keen surveillance exercised by innumerable deputies at the barriers discouraged it entirely. Auguste was not acquainted with Danton. He had seen him appear several times at the bar of the assembly, and had derived no very favorable impressions; but Roland, who knew him well, and though often thwarting never was hated by him, recommended an appeal to his kinder feelings; beneath that unprepossessing exterior, he said, a gentle heart beat, and the sympathies of a generous nature were not entirely extinct in him. Hardly daring to hope, but nerved by the crisis, at the appointed time Auguste was ushered into the presence of the 'Dictator;' for he was indeed Dictator. In that tumultuous hour, when consternation pervaded all ranks, and pictured the Prussians already encamping within the capital, when the panic-struck assembly would have retreated behind the Loire, and when the patriotic populace wavered for want of a leader, one man stood forth, wise and calm. To his superior coolness and energy all rival leaders, during the moment of exigency, were compelled to defer, and Robespierre and the Jacobins, alike with the Girondists in the Assembly, succumbed to his superiority.

He sat alone. Lists of names of doomed men covered his table, and he was apparently studying a plan of the prisons of Paris, for at that very time he was revolving in his mind that scheme of horror so soon destined to have its terrible development. His large strong eye scanned his visitor from head to foot as he entered, and Auguste trembled as he met the imperious look. Danton was not displeased at this involuntary tribute to his power, and his features relaxed as he referred to Roland's recommendation, and motioned the bearer to present his wishes.