her waiting.--Make an end of
this.

LA ROCHE.

When I have questioned you again.

PAUL.

I shall refuse to answer further questions.

LA ROCHE.

I may find a way to break your silence.

PAUL.

I swear you cannot do it.

LA ROCHE.

[_Motions_ GUARDS _to go_.]

[ORDERLY _about-faces, goes on to terrace_. GUARDS _then march off_.]

We shall see! You've given a name that's not your own.

[PAUL _starts, but remains silent_.]

Paul Kauvar was guillotined the night of the ninth of May.

[PAUL _turns, amazed but silent_.]

He died to save my kinsman, the Duc de Beaumont.

[PAUL, _about to speak, checks himself_.]

He was the husband of my cousin.

PAUL.

[_Exploding_.]

Diane--your cousin?

LA ROCHE.

Ha! I thought I'd make you speak.

PAUL.

[_Eagerly_.]

You know her?--She has escaped?--Is safe?--alive?--happy?

LA ROCHE.

Oh, ho!--So you would turn the tables--question me?

PAUL.

Is she alive and well?--I ask to know but this.

LA ROCHE.

I'll tell you more, if you will answer first my questions.

PAUL.

All!--that do not force me to betray my cause.

LA ROCHE.

Explain!--You escaped the guillotine?

PAUL.

The story is too long.

LA ROCHE.

Make it brief, but answer.

PAUL.

In the death-cart I found a priest confessing those about him. He
questioned me, soon saw that I was not the Duke. "My child," he
said, "I die to-day, but as a priest shall be the last to mount the
scaffold.--Let me take your place, assume the same disguise, while you
slip from the cart and live." At first I refused, as I no longer cared
for life! But when he said Diane might not escape unless I lived to
aid her, I yielded.--The night was cloudy. When the moon was hidden,
the priest put on my coat and wig, and as the death-cart neared the
scaffold, I slipped through its slatted floor, and in the darkness
mingled with the crowd.

LA ROCHE.

Who was the holy man who set you free?

PAUL.

The Abbe de St. Simon.

LA ROCHE.

Strange! We heard the Abbe had escaped.

PAUL.

He answered when the Duke was called and so was guillotined; but when
the Abbe's turn had come, they could not find him, and so gave out
that he'd escaped.

LA ROCHE.

Yes, I understand it now.--Proceed!

PAUL.

I found Diane had gone, believing I was guilty of a most ignoble
crime. Too sick at heart to follow her, I enlisted and, seeking death,
obtained promotio