by the contemptible verses of a Laya; the people has not
forgotten the scandal of the _Ami des Lois_...."

"Nay, _citoyen_ Gamelin, say what you will of Laya; he is none of my
friends."

It was not purely out of kindness that the _citoyenne_ had employed her
credit to get Gamelin appointed to a much envied post; after what she
had done for him and what peradventure she might come to do for him in
the future, she counted on binding him closely to her interests and in
that way securing for herself a protector connected with a tribunal she
might one day or another have to reckon with; for the fact is, she was
in constant correspondence with the French provinces and foreign
countries, and at that date such a circumstance was ground enough for
suspicion.

"Do you often go to the theatre, _citoyen_?"

As she asked the question, Henry, the dragoon, entered the room, looking
more charming than the youthful Bathyllus. A brace of enormous pistols
was passed through his belt.

He kissed the fair _citoyenne's_ hand. Turning to him:

"There stands the _citoyen_ Evariste Gamelin," she said, "for whose sake
I have spent the day at the Committee of General Security, and who is an
ungrateful wretch. Scold him for me."

"Ah! _citoyenne_," cried the young soldier, "you have seen our
Legislators at the Tuileries. What an afflicting sight! Is it seemly the
Representatives of a free people should sit beneath the roof of a
despot? The same lustres that once shone on the plots of Capet and the
orgies of Antoinette now illumine the deliberations of our law-makers.
'Tis enough to make Nature shudder."

"Pray, congratulate the _citoyen_ Gamelin," was all her answer, "he is
appointed juryman on the Revolutionary Tribunal."

"My compliments, _citoyen_!" said Henry. "I am rejoiced to see a man of
your character invested with these functions. But, to speak truth, I
have small confidence in this systematic justice, set up by the
moderates of the Convention, in this complaisant Nemesis that is
considerate to conspirators and merciful to traitors, that hardly dares
strike a blow at the Federalists and fears to summon _the Austrian_ to
the bar. No, it is not the Revolutionary Tribunal will save the
Republic. They are very culpable, the men who, in the desperate
situation we are in, have arrested the flowing torrent of popular
justice!"

"Henry," interrupted the _citoyenne_ Rochemaure, "pass me that scent
bottle, please...."

On reaching h