m: yet an error of justice, an involuntary
error though it be, is not the less cruel. But they don't commit a man
without hearing him."

"But they arrest him first, and hear him afterwards," said Mother Bunch,
bitterly; "and then, after a month or two, they restore him his liberty.
And if he have a wife and children, whose only means of living is his
daily labor, what becomes of them while their only supporter is in
prison? They suffer hunger, they endure cold, and they weep!"

At these simple and pathetic words, Agricola trembled.

"A month without work," he said, with a sad and thoughtful air. "And my
mother, and father, and the two young ladies who make part of our family
until the arrival in Paris of their father, Marshal Simon. Oh! you are
right. That thought, in spite of myself, affrights me!"

"Agricola!" exclaimed the girl impetuously; "suppose you apply to M.
Hardy; he is so good, and his character is so much esteemed and honored,
that, if he offered bail for you, perhaps they would give up their
persecution?"

"Unfortunately," replied Agricola, "M. Hardy is absent; he is on a
journey with Marshal Simon."

After a silence of some time, Agricola, striving to surmount his fear,
added: "But no! I cannot give credence to this letter. After all, I had
rather await what may come. I'll at least have the chance of proving my
innocence on my first examination: for indeed, my good sister, whether
it be that I am in prison or that I fly to conceal myself, my working
for my family will be equally prevented."

"Alas! that is true," said the poor girl; "what is to be done! Oh, what
is to be done?"

"My brave father," said Agricola to himself, "if this misfortune happen
to-morrow, what an awakening it will be for him, who came here to sleep
so joyously!" The blacksmith buried his face in his hands.

Unhappily Mother Bunch's fears were too well-founded, for it will be
recollected that at that epoch of the year 1832, before and after the
Rue des Prouvaires conspiracy, a very great number of arrests had been
made among the working classes, in consequence of a violent reaction
against democratical ideas.

Suddenly, the girl broke the silence which had been maintained for some
seconds. A blush colored her features, which bore the impressions of an
indefinable expression of constraint, grief, and hope.

"Agricola, you are saved!"

"What say you?" he asked.

"The young lady, so beautiful, so good, who gave you this f