f slaughter for the 10th of Thermidor. While the deaths of the
unoffending strike awe to the city, his satellites are to massacre his
foes. There is but one hope left,--that the Power which now dooms the
doomer, may render me an instrument to expedite his fall. But two
days left,--two days! In all my wealth of time I see but two days; all
beyond,--darkness, solitude. I may save her yet. The tyrant shall fall
the day before that which he has set apart for slaughter! For the first
time I mix among the broils and stratagems of men, and my mind leaps up
from my despair, armed and eager for the contest."

....

A crowd had gathered round the Rue St. Honore; a young man was just
arrested by the order of Robespierre. He was known to be in the service
of Tallien, that hostile leader in the Convention, whom the tyrant had
hitherto trembled to attack. This incident had therefore produced a
greater excitement than a circumstance so customary as an arrest in the
Reign of Terror might be supposed to create. Amongst the crowd were many
friends of Tallien, many foes to the tyrant, many weary of beholding
the tiger dragging victim after victim to its den. Hoarse, foreboding
murmurs were heard; fierce eyes glared upon the officers as they seized
their prisoner; and though they did not yet dare openly to resist, those
in the rear pressed on those behind, and encumbered the path of the
captive and his captors. The young man struggled hard for escape, and,
by a violent effort, at last wrenched himself from the grasp. The
crowd made way, and closed round to protect him, as he dived and darted
through their ranks; but suddenly the trampling of horses was heard at
hand,--the savage Henriot and his troop were bearing down upon the mob.
The crowd gave way in alarm, and the prisoner was again seized by one
of the partisans of the Dictator. At that moment a voice whispered the
prisoner, "Thou hast a letter which, if found on thee, ruins thy last
hope. Give it to me! I will bear it to Tallien." The prisoner turned in
amaze, read something that encouraged him in the eyes of the stranger
who thus accosted him. The troop were now on the spot; the Jacobin who
had seized the prisoner released hold of him for a moment to escape
the hoofs of the horses: in that moment the opportunity was found,--the
stranger had disappeared.

....

At the house of Tallien the principal foes of the tyrant were assembled.
Common danger made common fellowship. All facti