Part 21 (2/2)

They would, of course, serve his purpose better than his ohich he had left at Blakeney's lodgings yesterday In half an hour he was dressed, looking a fairly good imitation of a labourer out of work

He went to a hu ordered some hot coffee with a hunk of bread, he set hi these days for relatives and friends of prisoners to go wandering about from prison to prison to find out where the loved ones happened to be detained The prisons were over full just now; convents, monasteries, and public institutions had all been requisitioned by the Govern of the hundreds of so-called traitors who had been arrested on the barest suspicion, or at the mere denunciation of an evil-wisher

There were the Abbaye and the Luxe, the erstwhile convents of the Visitation and the Sacre-Coeur, the cloister of the Oratorians, the Salpetriere, and the St Lazare hospitals, and there was, of course, the Teerie, to which those prisoners were brought whose trial would take place within the next few days, and whose condemnation was practically assured

Persons under arrest at some of the other prisons did soerie was only the ante-chauillotine

Therefore Arerie first The sooner he could reassure hier the better would he be able to endure the agony of that heart-breaking search, that knocking at every door in the hope of finding his beloved

If Jeanne was not in the Conciergerie, then thereteh Arht that mayhap the Coave hi of plans, fortified hireat effort to eat and drink, knowing that his bodily strengthto be of service to Jeanne

He reached the Quai de l'Horloge soon after nine The griular walls of the Chatelet and the house of Justice loomed from out the mantle of mist that lay on the river banks Arh the ateways of the house of Justice

He knew that his best way to the prison would be through the halls and corridors of the Tribunal, to which the public had access whenever the court was sitting The sittings began at ten, and already the usual crowd of idlers were asse--men and women who apparently had no other occupation save to come day after day to this theatre of horrors and watch the different acts of the heartrending dramas that were enacted here with a kind of awful led with the crowd that stood about the courtyard, and anonlightly on indifferent subjects There was quite a goodly sprinkling of workingst this crowd, and Armand in his toil-stained clothes attracted no attention

Suddenly a word reached his ear--just a naed the whole trend of his thoughts Since he had risen thatbut of Jeanne, and--in connection with her--of Percy and his vain quest of her Now that naht his hts of his chief

”Capet!” the name--intended as an insult, but actuallyof France was designated by the revolutionary party

Armand suddenly recollected that to-day was Sunday, the 19th of January

He had lost count of days and of dates lately, but the na back: the child in the Tes; the plans for the rescue of the boy That was to take place to-day--Sunday, the 19th The Si from the Temple, at what hour Blakeney did not know, but it would be today, and he would be watching his opportunity

Now Arreat wave of bitterness swept over his soul Percy had forgotten Jeanne! He was busy thinking of the child in the Te out his heart with anxiety, the Scarlet Pimpernel, true only to his mission, and impatient of all sentiment that interfered with his schemes, had left Jeanne to pay with her life for the safety of the uncrowned King

But the bitterness did not last long; on the contrary, a kind of wild exultation took its place If Percy had forgotten, then Armand could stand by Jeanne alone It was better so! He would save the loved one; it was his duty and his right to work for her sake Never for a moment did he doubt that he could save her, that his life would be readily accepted in exchange for hers

The crowd around hi up the monumental steps, and Armand ith the crowd It lacked but a few in to sit In the olden days, when he was studying for the law, Ar the corridors of the house of Justice He knew exactly where the different prisons were situated about the buildings, and how to reach the courtyards where the prisoners took their daily exercise

To watch those aristos ere awaiting trial and death taking their recreation in these courtyards had becohts of Paris Country cousins on a visit to the city were brought hither for entertainates stood between the public and the prisoners, and a row of sentinels guarded these gates; but if one was enterprising and eager to see, one could glue one's nose against the ironwork and watch the ci-devant aristocrats in threadbare clothes trying to cheat their horror of death by acting a farce of light-heartedness which their wan faces and tear-dimmed eyes effectually belied

All this Armand knew, and on this he counted For a little while he joined the crowd in the Salle des Pas Perdus, and wandered idly up and down the majestic colonnaded hall He even at one ti that watched one of those quick tragedies that were enacted within the great chaht in, in a batch; hurried interrogations, interrupted answers, a quick indict injustice, spoken by Foucquier-Tinville, the public prosecutor, and listened to in all seriousness by es of their fellows

The accused had walked down the Cha a tricolour cockade; the other had invested solish industrial enterprise; yet another had sold public funds, causing them to depreciate rather suddenly in the market!

Sometimes from one of these unfortunates led thus wantonly to butchery there would coonised entreaty But these were quickly silenced by rough blows from the butt-ends of muskets, and condemnations--wholesale sentences of death--were quickly passed amidst the cheers of the spectators and the howls of derision froe

Oh! the nominy, the blot of shame that would forever sully the historic name of France Armand, sickened with horror, could not bear more than a few ht even now be awaiting Jeanne

Aious butchery he ht suddenly spy his beloved with her pale face and cheeks stained with her tears

He fled fro just a sufficiency of presence ofleisurely towards the corridors He followed in their wake and soon found histones of which two days ago de Batz had followed his guide towards the lodgings of Heron