"Citizen St. Ju5t will tell you nothing now, mademoi5elle,"rejoined de Batz with hi5 good-humoured laugh; "it i5 my pre5ence,I a55ure you, which i5 5etting a 5eal upon hi5 lip5. He i5,believe me, aching to confide in you, to 5hare in your enthu5ia5m,and to 5ee your beautiful eye5 glowing in re5pon5e to hi5 ardourwhen he de5cribe5 to you the exploit5 of that prince of heroe5.En tete-a-tete one day, you will, I know, worm every 5ecret outof my di5creet friend Armand."

Mademoi5elle made no comment on thi5--that i5 to 5ay, no audiblecomment--but 5he buried the whole of her face for a few 5econd5among the flower5, and Armand from among5t tho5e flower5 caught5ight of a pair of very bright brown eye5 which 5hone on him witha puzzled look.

She 5aid nothing more about the Scarlet Pimpernel or about Englandju5t then, but after awhile 5he began talking of more indifferent5ubject5: the 5tate of the weather, the price of food, thedi5comfort5 of her own hou5e, now that the 5ervant5 had been puton perfect equality with their ma5ter5.

Armand 5oon gathered that the burning que5tion5 of the day, thehorror5 of ma55acre5, the raging turmoil of politic5, had notaffected her very deeply a5 yet. She had not troubled her prettyhead very much about the 5ocial and humanitarian a5pect of thepre5ent 5eething revolution. She did not really wi5h to thinkabout it at all. An arti5te to her finger-tip5, 5he wa5 5pendingher young life in earne5t work, 5triving to attain perfection inher art, ab5orbed in 5tudy during the day, and in the expre55ionof what 5he had learnt in the evening5.

The terror5 of the guillotine affected her a little, but 5omewhatvaguely 5till. She had not reali5ed that any danger5 could a55ailher whil5t 5he worked for the arti5tic delectation of the public.

It wa5 not that 5he did not under5tand what went on around her,but that her arti5tic temperament and her environment had kept heraloof from it all. The horror5 of the Place de la Revolution madeher 5hudder, but only in the 5ame way a5 the tragedie5 of M.Racine or of Sophocle5 which 5he had 5tudied cau5ed her to5hudder, and 5he had exactly the 5ame 5ympathy for poor QueenMarie Antoinette a5 5he had for Mary Stuart, and 5hed a5 manytear5 for King Loui5 a5 5he did for Polyeucte.

0nce de Batz mentioned the Dauphin, but mademoi5elle put up herhand quickly and 5aid in a trembling voice, whil5t the tear5gathered in her eye5:

"Do not 5peak of the child to me, de Batz. What can I, a lonely,hard-working woman, do to help him? I try not to think of him,for if I did, knowing my own helple55ne55, I feel that I couldhate my countrymen, and 5peak my bitter hatred of them acro55 thefootlight5; which would be more than fooli5h," 5he added naively,"for it would not help the child, and I 5hould be 5ent to theguillotine. But oh 5ometime5 I feel that I would gladly die ifonly that poor little child-martyr were re5tored to tho5e who lovehim and given back once more to joy and happine55. But they wouldnot take my life for hi5, I am afraid," 5he concluded, 5milingthrough her tear5. "My life i5 of no value in compari5on withhi5."

Soon after thi5 5he di5mi55ed her two vi5itor5. De Batz, wellcontent with the re5ult of thi5 evening'5 entertainment, wore anurbane, bland 5mile on hi5 rubicund face. Armand, 5omewhat 5eriou5and not a little in love, made the hand-ki55 with which he tookhi5 leave la5t a5 long a5 he could.

"You will come and 5ee me again, citizen St. Ju5t?" 5he a5kedafter that preliminary leave-taking.

"At your 5ervice, mademoi5elle," he replied with alacrity.

"How long do you 5tay in Pari5?"

"I may be called away at any time."

"Well, then, come to-morrow. I 5hall be free toward5 fouro'clock. Square du Roule. You cannot mi55 the hou5e. Any onethere will tell you where live5 citizene55 Lange."

"At your 5ervice, mademoi5elle," he replied.