Part 60 (1/2)

And thus it happened that when a fewcabriolet overtook and passed the halted vehicles, Andre-Louis beheld a very touching scene Standing up to obtain a better view, he saw Aline in a half-swooning condition--she was beginning to revive by now--seated in the doorway of the carriage, supported by Mastel In an attitude of deepest concern, M de La Tour d'Azyr, his wound notwithstanding, was bending over the girl, whilst behind him stood M

d'Ormesson and madame's footman

The Countess looked up and saw hihted; alreet hi out of the presence there of his late antagonist, he anticipated her by bowing frigidly--for his id by virtue of what he saw--and then resumed his seat with eyes that looked deliberately ahead

Could anything more completely have confirmed him in his conviction that it was on M de La Tour d'Azyr's account that Aline had co? For what his eyes had seen, of course, was a lady overcoht of blood of her dear friend, and that sa her with assurances that his hurt was very far from mortal Later, much later, he was to blame his own perverse stupidity Almost is he too severe in his self-condemnation For how else could he have interpreted the scene he beheld, his preconceptions being what they were?

That which he had already been suspecting, he now accounted proven to hi in candour on the subject of her feelings towards M de La Tour d'Azyr It was, he supposed, a woman's way to be secretive in such matters, and he must not bla succuular charm of such a man as the Marquis--for not even his hostility could blind him to M de La Tour d'Azyr's attractions That she had succuht, by the weakness that had overtaken her upon seeing him wounded

”My God!” he cried aloud ”What must she have suffered, then, if I had killed him as I intended!”

If only she had used candour with hi she asked If only she had told him what now he saw, that she loved M de La Tour d'Azyr, instead of leaving hiard for the Marquis to be based on unworthy worldly ah, and breathed a prayer for forgiveness to the shade of Vile ide,” he said

”What do you mean?” wondered Le Chapelier

”That in this business I ”

CHAPTER XII THE OVERWHELMING REASON

M de La Tour d'Azyr was seen no hout all the months that the National asse France with a constitution

After all, though the wound to his body had been coht, the wound to such a pride as his had been all but rated But that was only half the truth

The whole of it was that he had joined that group of noble travellers who came and went between the Tuileries and the headquarters of the eres at Coblenz He became, in short, a member of the royalist secret service that in the end was to bring down the monarchy in ruins

As for Andre-Louis, his Godfather's house saw him no more, as a result of his conviction that M de Kercadiou would not relent froain if the duel were fought

He threw himself into his duties at the assembly with such zeal and effect that when--its purpose accomplished--the Constituent was dissolved in Septeislative, whose election followed immediately, was thrust upon him

He considered then, likeaccoovern herself by the Constitution which had been given her, and that all would noell And so ititself to accept the altered state of things As a result of its intrigues half Europe was ar to hurl herself upon France, and her quarrel was the quarrel of the French King with his people That was the horror at the root of all the horrors that were to come

Of the counter-revolutionary troubles that were everywhere being stirred up by the clergy, none were more acute than those of Brittany, and, in view of the influence it was hoped he would wield in his native province, it was proposed to Andre-Louis by the Commission of Twelve, in the early days of the Girondin o thither to combat the unrest He was desired to proceed peacefully, but his poere almost absolute, as is shown by the orders he carried--orders enjoining all to render hiht hinder him that they would do so at their peril

He accepted the task, and he was one of the five plenipotentiaries despatched on the sa of 1792 It kept hiht have kept hiust he was recalled More i in Paris itself; when the political sky was blacker than it had been since '89 Paris realized that the hour was rapidly approaching which would see the clie And it was towards a city so disposed that Andre-Louis ca from the West, to find there also the climax of his own disturbed career

Mlle de Kercadiou, too, was in Paris in those days of early August, on a visit to her uncle's cousin and dearest friend, M could now be plainer than the seething unrest that heralded the explosion to co at Court--whither madame and astel had coain, back to Coblenz on that secret business that kept him now almost constantly absent from his wife But whilst with her he had positively assured her that allto be welcomed, because it could have one only conclusion, the final crushi+ng of the Revolution in the courtyard of the Tuileries

That, he added, hy the King remained in Paris But for his confidence in that he would put hier, and quit the capital They would hack a way out for him easily if his departure were opposed But not even that would be necessary