Part 24 (1/2)

”No! no! no!” rejoined Chauvelin blandly; ”not for that of ht at his words like a drowning man at a reed

”For hers!” he exclaimed

”For hers?” queried the other with obvious puzzlee,” continued Aroistic ardour of the lover who believes that the attention of the entire world is concentrated upon his beloved

”Madee! You will set her free now that I am in your power”

Chauvelin se I had forgotten”

”Forgotten, s have arrested her?--the best, the purest, this vile, degraded country has ever produced She sheltered me one day just for an hour I am a traitor to the Republic--I own it I'llof this I deceived her; she is quite innocent, you understand? I'll make full confession, but you radually worked hih the darkness which hung about in this small room he tried to peer in Chauvelin's i friend,” said the other placidly; ”you see to do with the arrest of the lady in whoet that now I am but a discredited servant of the Republic whoranted enuine if not successful I have no power to set any one free”

”Nor to arrest me now, in that case!” retorted Armand

Chauvelin paused asent of the Committee of General Security”

”Then all is for the best!” exclaierly ”You shall denounce lad of my arrest, I assure you I have been a marked man for some time I had intended to evade arrest and to work for the rescue of Madeht of that--I will deliver ive you my most solemn word of honour that not only will I make no attempt at escape, but that I will not allow any one to helpprisoner if you, on the other hand, will effect Madeain, ”it sounds feasible”

”It does! it does!” rejoined Armand, whose excitement was at fever-pitch ”My arrest, my condemnation, my death, will be of vast deal irl against whoes would have to be tricked up, and whose acquittal ht demand As for me, I shall be an easy prey; e with a foreigner--”

”Your connection with the Scarlet Piested Chauvelin blandly

”Quite so I should not defend matical friend would not attempt your rescue C'est entendu,” said Chauvelin with his wonted blandness ”Then,friend, shall we adjourn to the office of ent of the Committee of General Security, and will receive your--did you say confession?--and note the conditions under which you place yourself absolutely in the hands of the Public Prosecutor and subsequently of the executioner Is that it?”

Arhts of Jeanne to note the tone of quiet irony hich Chauvelin had been speaking all along With the unreasoning egoism of youth he was quite convinced that his own arrest, his own affairs were as important to this entire nation in revolution as they were to hie a desperate situation clearly, and to a young man in love the fate of the beloved never seems desperate whilst he himself is alive and ready for every sacrifice for her sake ”My life for hers”

is the sublime if often foolish battle-cry that has so often resulted in whole-sale destruction Armand at this ain with the most astute, most unscrupulous spy this revolutionary Governotten his chief, his friends, the league of ed

Enthusias hi eyes as one who looks on the arbiter of his fate

Chauvelin, without another word, beckoned to hi sharply to his left, he reached the wide quadrangle with the covered passage running right round it, the sao when he went to visit Heron

Ary step, followed hi to a feast where he would meet Jeanne, where he would kneel at her feet, kiss her hands, and lead her triumphantly to freedom and to happiness

CHAPTER XVIII THE REMOVAL

Chauvelin no longer made any pretence to hold Armand by the arm By temperament as well as by profession a spy, there was one subject at least which he had h occasionally an exceptionally coanisation baffled him--as in the case of Sir Percy Blakeney--he prided hi natures like that of Armand St Just as he would an open book

The excitable disposition of the Latin races he knew out and out; he knew exactly how far a senti Frenchman like Armand, as by disposition chivalrous, and by tes, he knehen and how far he could trust a man to do either a sublime action or an essentially foolish one

Therefore he walked along contentedly now, not even looking back to see whether St Just was following hihts only dwelt on the young enthusiast--in his h in the balance the hty possibilities that would accrue from the present sequence of events

The fixed idea ever working in the ue belief into a certainty That the Scarlet Pimpernel was in Paris at the present moment Chauvelin had now become convinced