Part 19 (2/2)

Great God! he was really going mad!

Like a wild creature driven forth he started to run down the stairs, past the concierge, as just entering his lodge, and who now turned in surly anger to watch thisaway like a lunatic or a fool, out by the front door and into the street In a moment he was out of the little square; then like a hunted hare he still ran down the Rue St

Honore, along its narrow, interth His hat had fallen from his head, his hair ild all round his face, the rain weighted the cloak upon his shoulders; but still he ran

His feet made no noise on the muddy pavement He ran on and on, his elbows pressed to his sides, panting, quivering, intent but upon one thing--the goal which he had set himself to reach

Jeanne was arrested He did not knohere to look for her, but he did knohither he wanted to go now as swiftly as his legs would carry him

It was still dark, but Armand St Just was a born Parisian, and he knew every inch of this quarter, where he and Marguerite had years ago lived

Down the Rue St Honore, he had reached the botto street at last He had kept just a sufficiency of reason--or was it ht patrols of the National Guard ht be on the watch He avoided the Place du Carrousel, also the quay, and struck sharply to his right until he reached the facade of St Germain l'Auxerrois

Another effort; round the corner, and there was the house at last

He was like the hunted creature now that has run to earth Up the two flights of stone stairs, and then the pull at the bell; a , almost choked with the sustained effort and the strain of the past half-hour, he leaned against the wall, striving not to fall

Then the well-known firm step across the rooms beyond, the open door, the hand upon his shoulder

After that he re more

CHAPTER XIV THE CHIEF

He had not actually fainted, but the exertion of that long run had rendered him partially unconscious He kne that he was safe, that he was sitting in Blakeney's roo poured down his throat

”Percy, they have arrested her!” he said, panting, as soon as speech returned to his paralysed tongue

”All right Don't talk now Wait till you are better”

With infinite care and gentleness Blakeney arranged some cushi+ons under Arht his friend a cup of hot coffee, which the latter drank with avidity

He was really too exhausted to speak He had contrived to tell Blakeney, and now Blakeney knew, so everything would be all right The inevitable reaction was asserting itself; the muscles had relaxed, the nerves were numbed, and Armand lay back on the sofa with eyes half closed, unable toto hi itself, all the feverish excite at last to a calh his half-closed eyes he could see his brother-in-lawabout the room Blakeney was fully dressed In a sleepy kind of way Armand wondered if he had been to bed at all; certainly his clothes set on him with their usual well-tailored perfection, and there was no suggestion in his brisk step and alert ht

Noas standing by the openArmand, from where he lay, could see his broad shoulders sharply outlined against the grey background of the hazy winter dawn A wan light was just creeping up from the east over the city; the noises of the streets below came distinctly to Arorous effort fro quite ashamed of himself and of this breakdown of his nervous system

He looked with frank admiration on Sir Percy, who stood ith, serene and impassive, yet kindly in distress

”Percy,” said the young man, ”I ran all the way from the top of the Rue St Honore I was only breathless I aht May I tell you all about it?”