sent state of affairs all private plans and
interests must be put aside in view of the dangers that surrounded
the king. Marie acquiesced in the decision, and bade her lover
adieu calmly and bravely.

"They are quite right, Victor; I have felt for some time that when
France was on the verge of a precipice it was not the time for her
nobles to be marrying. Noblesse oblige. If we were two peasants
we might marry and be happy. As it is we must wait, even though we
know that waiting may never come to an end. I have a conviction,
Victor, that our days of happiness are over, and that terrible
things are about to happen."

"But nothing that can happen can separate us, Marie."

"Nothing but death, Victor," she said quietly.

"But surely, Marie, you take too gloomy a view. Death, of course,
may separate all lovers; but there seems no reason that we should
fear him now more than at other times. A few farmers-general and
others who have made themselves obnoxious to the mob have been
killed, but what is that! There should at least be no hostility
to our order. Many of the nobles have been foremost in demanding
reforms. All have cheerfully resigned their privileges. There is
no longer the slightest reason for hostility against us."

"My dear Victor," Marie said quietly, "you do not ask a wild beast
about to rend his prey, what is the reason for his actions. I hope
I may be wrong; but at least, dear, we shall see each other again
before long, and, whatever troubles may come, will share them. My
mother in her letter yesterday said that she and the marquis had
determined that we should join them in Paris; for that although the
disorders have abated somewhat they are anxious at the thought of
our being alone here, and in the present position of things they
have no hope of being able to leave the king. She says my father
is very indignant at the great emigration of the nobility that
is going on. In the first place, he holds that they are deserting
their post in the face of the enemy; and in the second place, by
their assemblage across the frontier and their intrigues at foreign
courts against France they are causing the people to look with
suspicion upon the whole class."

"You have kept your good news till the last, Marie," Victor said.
"Here have we been saying good-bye, and it seems that we are going
to meet again very shortly."

"I have been bidding farewell," Marie said, "not to you, but to
our dream of happiness. We shal