illows and a rug upon it,
and oh, marvel! on the round central table, a vase with a huge bunch
of many-coloured dahlias which seemed to throw a note as if of gladness
into this strange and gloomy little room.

At the furthest corner, too, a construction of iron uprights and
crossway bars had been hastily contrived and fitted with curtains,
forming a small recess, behind which was a tidy washstand, fine clean
towels and plenty of fresh water. Evidently the shops of Boulogne had
been commandeered in order to render Marguerite's sojourn here outwardly
agreeable.

But as the place was innocent of window, so was it innocent of doors.
The one that gave into the large room had been taken out of its hinges,
leaving only the frame, on each side of which stood a man from the
municipal guard with fixed bayonet.

Chauvelin himself had conducted Marguerite to her new prison. She
followed him--silent and apathetic--with not a trace of that awful
torrent of emotion which had overwhelmed her but half-an-hour ago when
she had fallen on her knees beside the old priest and sobbed her heart
out in a passionate fit of weeping. Even the sight of the soldiers
left her outwardly indifferent. As she stepped across the threshold she
noticed that the door itself had been taken away: then she gave another
quick glance at the soldiers, whose presence there would control her
every movement.

The thought of Queen Marie Antoinette in the Conciergerie prison with
the daily, hourly humiliation and shame which this constant watch
imposed upon her womanly pride and modesty, flashed suddenly across
Marguerite's mind, and a deep blush of horror rapidly suffused her pale
cheeks, whilst an almost imperceptible shudder shook her delicate frame.

Perhaps, as in a flash, she had at this moment received an inkling
of what the nature of that terrible "either--or" might be, with which
Chauvelin was trying to force an English gentleman to dishonour. Sir
Percy Blakeney's wife had been threatened with Marie Antoinette's fate.

"You see, Madame," said her cruel enemy's unctuous voice close to her
ear, "that we have tried our humble best to make your brief sojourn here
as agreeable as possible. May I express a hope that you will be quite
comfortable in this room, until the time when Sir Percy will be ready to
accompany you to the 'Day-Dream.'"

"I thank you, sir," she replied quietly.

"And if there is anything you require, I pray you to call. I shall be in
th