er Philip, she passed suddenly from the
poignant suffering we have described to a state of peaceful security.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE THUNDERBOLT.

Three days passed, leaving the situation of affairs unchanged.
Antoinette and Dolores saw Philip but seldom, though they were living
under the same roof, so persistently did he avoid them. If he chanced to
enter the hall when they were there, he took refuge with some of the
groups of gentlemen, where the two girls would not be likely to approach
him unless they had something of great importance to communicate to
their ungracious friend.

What Philip utterly lacked, after the events recounted in the last
chapter, was resignation. He felt, that Dolores was irrevocably lost to
him, and that even if she left the prison alive, she would instantly
place an impassable barrier between them; but though he was convinced of
this, he could not make up his mind to submit to a decision that
destroyed all his hopes of happiness; so he hoped and despaired by
turns, sometimes assuring himself that he could find words sufficiently
eloquent to move Dolores, sometimes admitting with a sort of desperation
that nothing could shake the firmness of the young girl who had resolved
to sacrifice her happiness for the sake of duty.

Antoinette and Dolores respected his sadness and his evident desire for
solitude. They spent most of their time together in their own little
room, happy in being again united, and bearing the trials that beset
them on every side with wonderful fortitude. Each evening found them
astonished that they had not been summoned before the Revolutionary
Tribunal; and each evening they said, not without anguish:

"The summons will come, perhaps, to-morrow."

The fourth day after Philip's arrival at the Conciergerie, Aubry, the
jailer, who had shown Dolores so much kindness and attention, obtained
leave of absence for the day, and engaged Coursegol to take his place.
Once before he had made a similar arrangement, and Coursegol had thus
been able to spend almost an entire day with Dolores.

His anxiety to see her now, was increased by his desire to fix upon a
plan whereby he could rescue her and also Philip from the danger that
threatened them. He brought with him the order in which he had inserted
their names, and which would set "Citoyen and Citoyenne Chamondrin" at
liberty. He was not aware of Antoinette's arrest, and when he entered
the cell and saw Mlle. de Mirandol, h