d; "it is not often
I give way, but to-day I do not feel quite myself, and this letter
finished me. You will see I shall be all right to-morrow."

"I hope so," Harry said as he rose to leave; "but I think you had
better ask Louise to give you something--your hands are hot and
your cheeks are quite flushed, and you look to me as if you were
feverish. Good night, dears!"

"I do hope Jeanne is not going to break down," Harry said as he
walked towards his lodging. "If she were to get laid up now that
would be the finishing touch to the whole affair; but perhaps, as
she says, she will be all right in the morning. No doubt in that
note Marie wrote as if she were sure of dying, and such a letter
as that would be enough to upset any girl, even such a plucky one
as Jeanne.

"However, it is of Marie I must think now. It was a brave letter of
hers; it is clear she has given up all hope. This is a bad business
about the scoundrel Lebat. I used to wonder why he came so often
to the chateau on business that could have been done just as well
by a messenger. He saw how things were going, and thought that when
the division of the estates came he might get a big slice. However,
it's most unfortunate that he should have had this interview with
Marie in the prison. If it had not been for that it might have been
months before her turn came for trial. As it is, no doubt Lebat will
have her name put down at once in the list of those for trial, if
such a farce can be called a trial, and will see that no time is
lost before it appears on that fatal list for execution.

"He will flatter himself, of course, that when the last moment
comes, and she sees that there is no hope whatever, she will change
her mind. There is one thing, if she is murdered I will kill him
as I would a dog, for he will be her murderer just as much as if
he had himself cut her throat. I would do it at once if it were not
for the girls. I must not run any unnecessary risks, at any rate
I need not think of him now; the one thing at present is to get
Marie out."

Turning this over in his mind, he walked about for some hours,
scarce noticing where he was going. It seemed to him that there
must be some way of getting Marie out if he could only hit upon
it. He turned over in his mind every escape he had ever read of,
but in most of these the prisoner had been a man, capable of using
tools passed in to him to saw through iron bars, pierce walls, or
overcome jailers; some