ught happiness to France.

"A fortnight passed, the poor abandoned mother had given up all hope
of ever seeing the father of her three children again, when one
evening--it was last Friday--a man, wrapped in a black cloak,
introduced himself into the house, and made inquiries of the
_concierge_--a great patriot, and commander of the 114th
Battalion--whether Mademoiselle O... were at home? Upon an answer in
the affirmative from the heroic defender of Right and Liberties of
Paris, the man mounted the stairs to the poor workwoman's rooms. It
was he--the seducer; the _concierge_ had recognised him. What passed
between the murderer and his victims? That will be known,
perhaps--never! But certain it is, that an hour afterwards he went
out, still enveloped in his black mantle.

"The next day, and the days following, the _concierge_ was much
astonished not to see his lodger of the fourth floor, who was
accustomed to stop and talk with him on her way to fetch her _cafe
au lait_. But his deep sense of duty as commander of the 114th
Battalion occupied his mind so thoroughly, that he paid but little
attention to the incident. Neither did he regard the sighs and sobs
which were heard from the upper stories. He can scarcely be blamed
for this negligence; he was studying his _vade-mecum_.

"On the fourth day, however, the cries were so violent that they
began to inspire the passers-by with alarm, and we have related how
four men, headed by their _caporal_, were sought for to inquire into
the cause.

"We have already told what was seen and heard, but the explanations
of the neighbours were not sufficient to clear up the darkest side
of the mystery, and perhaps the truth would never have been known if
the _caporal_--exhibiting, by a rare proof of intelligence, how far
he was worthy of the grade with which his comrades had honoured
him--had not been inspired with the idea of lifting up the curtain
of the bed.

"Horror! Upon the bed lay stretched the corpse of the unhappy
mother, a dagger plunged into her heart, and in her clutched hand
was found a paper upon which the victim, before rendering her last
breath, had traced the following lines:--

"'I die, murdered by him who has betrayed me; he would have murdered
also my three children, if a noise in the next room had not caused
him t