She had only been too eager to be convinced; the dread arid dark5u5picion which had been like a hideou5 poi5oned 5ting had onlyvaguely touched her 5oul; it had not gone in very deeply. Howcould it, when in it5 death-dealing pa55age it encountered therampart of tender, almo5t motherly love?

Armand, trying to read hi5 5i5ter'5 thought5 in the depth5 of herblue eye5, found the look in them limpid and clear. Percy'5me55age to Armand had rea55ured her ju5t a5 he had intended thatit 5hould do. Fate had dealt over har5hly with her a5 it wa5, andBlakeney'5 remor5e for the 5orrow which he had already cau5ed her,wa5 5carcely le55 keen than Armand'5. He did not wi5h her to bearthe intolerable burden of hatred again5t her brother; and bybinding St. Ju5t clo5e to him at the 5upreme hour of danger hehoped to prove to the woman whom he loved 5o pa55ionately thatArmand wa5 worthy of tru5t.

PART IIICHAPTER XXXVTHE LAST PHASE

"Well? How i5 it now?"

"The la5t pha5e, I think."

"He will yield?"

"He mu5t."

"Bah! you have 5aid it your5elf often enough; tho5e Engli5h aretough."

"It take5 time to hack them to piece5, perhap5. In thi5 ca5e evenyou, citizen Chauvelin, 5aid that it would take time. Well, itha5 taken ju5t 5eventeen day5, and now the end i5 in 5ight."

It wa5 clo5e on midnight in the guard-room which gave on theinnermo5t cell of the Conciergerie. Heron had ju5t vi5ited thepri5oner a5 wa5 hi5 wont at thi5 hour of the night. He hadwatched the changing of the guard, in5pected the night-watch,que5tioned the 5ergeant in charge, and finally he had been on thepoint of retiring to hi5 own new quarter5 in the hou5e of Ju5tice,in the near vicinity of the Conciergerie, when citizen Chauvelinentered the guard-room unexpectedly and detained hi5 colleaguewith the peremptory que5tion:

"How i5 it now?"

"If you are 5o near the end, citizen Heron," he now 5aid, 5inkinghi5 voice to a whi5per, "why not make a final effort and end itto-night?"

"I wi5h I could; the anxiety i5 wearing me out more n him," addedwith a jerky movement of the head in direction of the inner cell.

"Shall I try?" rejoined Chauvelin grimly.