for bait. Do you not
see how it is? This little fish is precious to the shoal, and lost, the
shoal, or part of it, at any rate, will turn to find her. So long as it
is known that she lives, there will be other emigres stealing into Paris
to look for Mademoiselle St. Clair."

"You are right. Delay will be wise," was the answer.

"Urge it, then," said Latour, with gleaming, sinister eyes. "Urge it.
You are the keepers of prisoners and should know best when to spare and
when to kill. It is not my business, and I have a name for gentleness in
some matters, a reputation which it suits me to preserve, but I am
bloodthirsty enough to give you good advice."

Latour knew how swift revolutionary justice was sometimes. It might be
only a matter of hours between mademoiselle and the guillotine. He had
counseled delay, confident that these men would counsel it in their
turn, and take to themselves the credit for so excellent an idea.

He had other business as he passed along the corridor of the prison, a
jest with the red-capped turnkey concerning the pretty birds he tended
so lovingly.

"Some of them sing even, citizen," answered the man, with a great,
coarse laugh. "Shall I show you some of my pets? You may not have
another opportunity."

"I do not understand birds."

"Will you not look at the new one caught only to-day?"

"Ah, the aristocrat! I had forgotten her. Where is she caged?"

"Yonder, a small cage, and with three others not of her breed. She does
not sing, citizen, she scolds. I tell you she has some strange oaths and
curses at her tongue tip, and mingles them curiously with prayers for
deliverance."

Latour laughed. He must show no anger at this man's humor, and he had
nothing to suggest which might secure mademoiselle greater comfort.

He glanced along the corridor in the direction the man had pointed. A
few yards of passage and a locked door were all that separated him from
the woman he would help. The temptation to look upon her for a moment
was great, the thought that by a glance he might convey a message of
assurance to her seemed to offer an excuse, but he resisted the
temptation.

"I shall see enough of your birds when you send them on their last
flight," he said, carelessly. "I hoped to see Mathon--where is he?"

"Drinking in the nearest wine shop, citizen, I'll wager, since he is off
duty."

"It is a bad habit for turnkeys to drink," said Latour, severely, and
the red-capped bully felt a sudde