im with all my
heart! I loved him from the moment that I set eyes on him, and then
he came to see me--perhaps you know! And he talked so beautiful about
England, and so nobly about his leader the Scarlet Pimpernel--have you
heard of him?"
"Yes," said Marguerite, smiling. "I have heard of him."
"It was that day that citizen Heron came with his soldiers! Oh! you do
not know citizen Heron. He is the most cruel man in France. In Paris
he is hated by every one, and no one is safe from his spies. He came to
arrest Armand, but I was able to fool him and to save Armand. And after
that," she added with charming naivete, "I felt as if, having saved
Armand's life, he belonged to me--and his love for me had made me his."
"Then I was arrested," she continued after a slight pause, and at the
recollection of what she had endured then her fresh voice still trembled
with horror.
"They dragged me to prison, and I spent two days in a dark cell,
where--"
She hid her face in her hands, whilst a few sobs shook her whole frame;
then she resumed more calmly:
"I had seen nothing of Armand. I wondered where he was, and I knew
that he would be eating out his heart with anxiety for me. But God was
watching over me. At first I was transferred to the Temple prison, and
there a kind creature--a sort of man-of-all work in the prison took
compassion on me. I do not know how he contrived it, but one morning
very early he brought me some filthy old rags which he told me to put
on quickly, and when I had done that he bade me follow him. Oh! he was a
very dirty, wretched man himself, but he must have had a kind heart. He
took me by the hand and made me carry his broom and brushes. Nobody took
much notice of us, the dawn was only just breaking, and the passages
were very dark and deserted; only once some soldiers began to chaff him
about me: 'C'est ma fille--quoi?' he said roughly. I very nearly laughed
then, only I had the good sense to restrain myself, for I knew that my
freedom, and perhaps my life, depended on my not betraying myself. My
grimy, tattered guide took me with him right through the interminable
corridors of that awful building, whilst I prayed fervently to God for
him and for myself. We got out by one of the service stairs and exit,
and then he dragged me through some narrow streets until we came to a
corner where a covered cart stood waiting. My kind friend told me to get
into the cart, and then he bade the driver on the box ta
|