Part 36 (1/2)

CHAPTER XXVII IN THE CONCIERGERIE

Marguerite, acco the quay It lacked ten ht was dark and bitterly cold Snoas still falling in sparse, thin flakes, and lay like a crisp and glittering rim towers of the Chatelet prison

They walked on silently now All that they had wanted to say to one another had been said inside the squalid roos when Sir Andrew Ffoulkes had come home and learned that Chauvelin had been

”They are killing hi cry which burst frouerite's oppressed heart as soon as her hands rested in the kindly ones of her best friend ”Is there aught that we can do?”

There was, of course, very little that could be done One or two fine steel files which Sir Andrew gave her to conceal beneath the folds of her kerchief; also a tiny dagger with sharp, poisoned blade, which for awith tears, her heart throbbing with unspeakable sorrow

Then slowly--very slowly--she raised the s instrument to her lips, and reverently kissed the narrow blade

”If it ive!”

She sheathed the dagger, and this, too, she hid in the folds of her gown

”Can you think of anything else, Sir Andrew, that he ht want?” she asked ”I have money in plenty, in case those soldiers--”

Sir Andrew sighed, and turned away from her so as to hide the hopelessness which he felt Since three days now he had been exhausting every conceivable uard with bribery and corruption But Chauvelin and his friends had taken excellent precautions The prison of the Conciergerie, situated as it was in the very heart of the labyrinthine and complicated structure of the Chatelet and the house of Justice, and isolated fro, was inaccessible save frouard-room first, and thence on the inner cell beyond Just as all attempts to rescue the late unfortunate Queen from that prison had failed, so now every attempt to reach the imprisoned Scarlet Pimpernel was equally doouard-rooht; the s of the inner cell, heavily barred, were too se of a human body, and they were raised twenty feet from the corridor below Sir Andrew had stood in the corridor two days ago, he had looked on thebehind which he knew that his friendfor liberty, and he had realised then that every effort at help froe, Lady Blakeney,” he said to Marguerite, when anon they had crossed the Pont au Change, and ending their way slowly along the Rue de la Barillerie; ”remember our proud dictum: the Scarlet Pies Blakeney gives you for us, whatever he wishes us to do, we are to a ive our lives for our chief Courage! So to die at the hands of such vermin as Chauvelin and his friends”

They had reached the great iron gates of the house of Justice

Marguerite, trying to s hand to this faithful, loyal comrade

”I'll not be far,” he said ”When you coht for hoht of you for a moment, and as soon as possible will overtake you God bless you both”

He pressed his lips on her cold little hand, and watched her tall, elegant figure as she passed through the great gates until the veil of falling snow hid her frouish and sorrow he turned away and was soon lost in the glooate at the bottom of the monu i for her

”We are prepared for your visit, Lady Blakeney,” he said, ”and the prisoner knows that you are co”

He led the way down one of the nu, and she followed briskly, pressing her hand against her bosom there where the folds of her kerchief hid the steel files and the precious dagger

Even in the glooes she realised that she was surrounded by guards There were soldiers everywhere; two had stood behind the door when first she entered, and had i behind her; and all the way down the corridors, through the half-light engendered by feebly flickering las on the uniforlint of steel of a bayonet Presently Chauvelin paused beside a door, which he had just reached His hand was on the latch, for it did not appear to be locked, and he turned toward Marguerite

”I am very sorry, Lady Blakeney,” he said in simple, deferential tones, ”that the prison authorities, who atyou this interview at such an unusual hour, have ht condition to your visit”

”A condition?” she asked ”What is it?”

”Youher question, ”for I give you ulation that you nity If you will kindly step in here a wardress in charge will explain to you what is required”

He pushed open the door, and stood aside ceremoniously in order to allow her to pass in She looked on him with deep puzzlement and a look of dark suspicion in her eyes But herwith Percy to worry over any trifle that nity

She walked into the room, past Chauvelin, hispered as she went by: