nd Tony in
the spinney. He only gave vague explanations of Armand's stay in Paris
which caused Percy to go back to the city, even at the moment when his
most daring plan had been so successfully carried through.

"Armand, I understand, has fallen in love with a beautiful woman in
Paris, Lady Blakeney," he said, seeing that a strange, puzzled look had
appeared in Marguerite's pale face. "She was arrested the day before the
rescue of the Dauphin from the Temple. Armand could not join us. He felt
that he could not leave her. I am sure that you will understand."

Then as she made no comment, he resumed his narrative:

"I had been ordered to go back to La Villette, and there to resume my
duties as a labourer in the day-time, and to wait for Percy during the
night. The fact that I had received no message from him for two days had
made me somewhat worried, but I have such faith in him, such belief in
his good luck and his ingenuity, that I would not allow myself to be
really anxious. Then on the third day I heard the news."

"What news?" asked Marguerite mechanically.

"That the Englishman who was known as the Scarlet Pimpernel had been
captured in a house in the Rue de la Croix Blanche, and had been
imprisoned in the Conciergerie."

"The Rue de la Croix Blanche? Where is that?"

"In the Montmartre quarter. Armand lodged there. Percy, I imagine, was
working to get him away; and those brutes captured him."

"Having heard the news, Sir Andrew, what did you do?"

"I went into Paris and ascertained its truth."

"And there is no doubt of it?"

"Alas, none! I went to the house in the Rue de la Croix Blanche. Armand
had disappeared. I succeeded in inducing the concierge to talk. She
seems to have been devoted to her lodger. Amidst tears she told me
some of the details of the capture. Can you bear to hear them, Lady
Blakeney?"

"Yes--tell me everything--don't be afraid," she reiterated with the same
dull monotony.

"It appears that early on the Tuesday morning the son of the
concierge--a lad about fifteen--was sent off by her lodger with a
message to No. 9 Rue St. Germain l'Auxerrois. That was the house where
Percy was staying all last week, where he kept disguises and so on
for us all, and where some of our meetings were held. Percy evidently
expected that Armand would try and communicate with him at that address,
for when the lad arrived in front of the house he was accosted--so
he says--by a big, rough workman, who