ium, and
they wept more bitterly. But one of the ladies, Madame d'Aiguillon, was
a little irritated at pleasantry which she deemed so ill timed. With
something like resentment, she asked, "Why, then, madame, do you not
appoint your household?" "Ah! that is true," Josephine replied. "I had
forgotten. Well, you, my dear, shall be my maid of honor. I promise you
the situation." They both lived to witness the strange fulfillment of
this promise. Josephine, however, who, from the circumstances of her
early life, was inclined to credulity, afterward declared that at the
time her mind reposed in the full confidence that in some way her life
would be saved, and that the prediction of the negress would be
virtually realized.

The shades of night settled down around the gloomy convent, enveloping
in their folds the despairing hearts which thronged this abode of woe.
Suddenly the most exultant shout of joy burst from every lip, and echoed
along through corridors, and dungeons, and grated cells. There was
weeping and fainting for rapture inexpressible. The prisoners leaped
into each other's arms, and, frantic with happiness, clung together in
that long and heartfelt embrace which none can appreciate but those who
have been companions in woe. Into the blackness of their midnight there
had suddenly burst the blaze of noonday. What caused this apparently
miraculous change? The iron-hearted jailer had passed along, announcing,
in coarsest phrase, THAT ROBESPIERRE WAS GUILLOTINED. There had been a
new revolution. The tyrant had fallen. The prisons which he had filled
with victims were to be emptied of their captives.

CHAPTER V.

THE RELEASE FROM PRISON.

A.D. 1794-A.D. 1795

Robespierre.--M. Tallien.--Madame de Fontenay.--A lover's device.--
Execution of Robespierre decreed.--He is guillotined.--Singular mode
of conveying information.--Pantomimic representation of Robespierre's
fall.--Universal joy caused by the death of the tyrant.--Josephine
released from captivity.--Gloomy prospect.--Heartlessness of Marat.
--Eugene apprenticed to an artisan.--Kindness of Josephine's
friends.--She recovers her property.--A domestic scene.--A new order
of knighthood.--The Order of _Filial Love_.--Inauguration.--Decorations
of the room.--The oath.--New organisation of social society.--The
"Ball of the Victims."--Fashionable style of hair-dressing.--A new
insurrection.--The little Corsican.--Napoleon's authority established.
--The Tuilleri