no court now, Monsieur le Baron, and one must live.
You shall have your carriage."

With which Cadenette sighed again, slipped Morgan's crown in his pocket,
made the reverential bow of wig-makers and dancing-masters, and left the
young man to complete his toilet.

The head being now dressed, the rest was soon done; the cravat alone
took time, owing to the many failures that occurred; but Morgan
concluded the difficult task with an experienced hand, and as eleven
o'clock was striking he was ready to start. Cadenette had not forgotten
his errand; a hackney-coach was at the door. Morgan jumped into it,
calling out: "Rue du Bac, No. 60."

The coach turned into the Rue de Grenelle, went up the Rue du Bac, and
stopped at No. 60.

"Here's a double fare, friend," said Morgan, "on condition that you
don't stand before the door."

The driver took the three francs and disappeared around the corner of
the Rue de Varennes. Morgan glanced up the front of the house; it seemed
as though he must be mistaken, so dark and silent was it. But he did not
hesitate; he rapped in a peculiar fashion.

The door opened. At the further end of the courtyard was a building,
brilliantly lighted. The young man went toward it, and, as he
approached, the sound of instruments met his ear. He ascended a flight
of stairs and entered the dressing-room. There he gave his cloak to the
usher whose business it was to attend to the wraps.

"Here is your number," said the usher. "As for your weapons, you are to
place them in the gallery where you can find them easily."

Morgan put the number in his trousers pocket, and entered the great
gallery transformed into an arsenal. It contained a complete collection
of arms of all kinds, pistols, muskets, carbines, swords, and daggers.
As the ball might at any moment be invaded by the police, it was
necessary that every dancer be prepared to turn defender at an instant's
notice. Laying his weapons aside, Morgan entered the ballroom.

We doubt if any pen could give the reader an adequate idea of the scene
of that ball. Generally, as the name "Ball of the Victims" indicated, no
one was admitted except by the strange right of having relatives who
had either been sent to the scaffold by the Convention or the Commune of
Paris, blown to pieces by Collot d'Herbois, or drowned by Carrier. As,
however, the victims guillotined during the three years of the Terror
far outnumbered the others, the dresses of the majority of