hem before they
would have time to alarm the house. M. Trouvier was the first who
recovered from his surprise, and, seizing his pistols, was about to rise
from his chair; when Bertram, who had now placed himself behind Malin's
chair, with his back to the large mirror, leveled a short rifle at his
head, while he said, with his deep guttural voice--

"Down, sir! down to your seat! Let not a man stir from his place, if he
wishes to keep his life!"

"What is the reason of this attack?" inquired Trouvier. "Do you come to
rob us? If so, we will give you our purses, and free us from the
intrusion."

"Your purses," exclaimed Bertram, with a mocking laugh, "would not be
heavy to carry. Joubart's poetry and purse are chaff, easily carried
away by a breath. Grandan and Egal might furnish better stores, if they
had sufficiently gulled the people to entrust them with their money for
a common stock. And you, M. Trouvier, with Sotard and Malin, have enough
to do to keep your seditious paper afloat; you certainly have nothing to
offer except empty promises to pay."

"Betrayed!" groaned Joubart, as he threw himself back in his chair.

"What, then, is your object in coming here?" inquired Trouvier. "Why are
we surrounded by armed men hiding their faces beneath masks?"

"To compel you not to leave this room for two hours from this time; and,
to this end, to tie your hands and feet and fasten you to the chairs
which you now occupy," replied Bertram, with the utmost nonchalance,
when he saw that the men had by this time managed to place themselves
behind nearly every chair around the table.

"Never!" exclaimed Bouchon, who was a large and powerful man--"never
will I submit to such disgrace while I can defend myself!"

And, with one bound, he sprang across his chair towards Bertram, but
dropped almost on his knees when he felt the iron grasp of the veteran
upon his shoulders. And that grasp continued until the burly form was
bent like that of a child by a man.

Labotte had risen during the confusion which this scene created, and
endeavored to escape by the lower door, while others had sought to leave
by the ordinary entrances; but Develour stood a fierce sentinel before
the only safe passage for escape, and repulsed the miscreant with a
bitterness which would have led him to kill the mercenary wretch, if
higher obligations had not interposed.

The other conspirators were also met everywhere by leveled pistols and
drawn swords. Th