st manner.

"In God's name, what is the matter, Monsieur La Force?" exclaimed
Hortense as that gentleman rode furiously up and checked his horse
violently at the sight of the ladies upon the balcony.

Hortense repeated her question. La Force took off his hat and looked
up, puzzled and distressed. "Is the Lady de Tilly at home?" inquired he
eagerly.

"Not just now, she has gone out; but what is the matter, in heaven's
name?" repeated she, as another wild cry came up from the city.

"Is Mademoiselle Amelie home?" again asked La Force with agitated voice.

"She is home. Heavens! have you some bad news to tell her or the Lady de
Tilly?" breathlessly inquired Hortense.

"Bad news for both of them; for all of us, Hortense. But I will not be
the bearer of such terrible tidings,--others are following me; ask them.
Oh, Hortense, prepare poor Amelie for the worst news that ever came to
her."

The Sieur La Force would not wait to be further questioned,--he rode off
furiously.

The bridesmaids all turned pale with affright at these ominous words,
and stood looking at each other and asking what they could mean.

Amelie and Heloise caught some of the conversation between Hortense
and La Force. They sprang up and ran to the balcony just as two of the
servants of the house came rushing up with open mouths, staring eyes,
and trembling with excitement. They did not wait to be asked what was
the matter, but as soon as they saw the ladies they shouted out the
terrible news, as the manner of their kind is, without a thought of the
consequences: that Le Gardeur had just killed the Bourgeois Philibert in
the market-place, and was himself either killed or a prisoner, and the
people were going to burn the Friponne and hang the Intendant under the
tablet of the Golden Dog, and all the city was going to be destroyed.

The servants, having communicated this piece of wild intelligence,
instantly rushed into the house and repeated it to the household,
filling the mansion in a few moments with shrieks and confusion.

It was in vain Hortense and Agathe La Corne St. Luc strove to withhold
the terrible truth from Amelie. Her friends endeavored with kindly force
and eager exhortations to prevent her coming to the balcony, but she
would not be stayed; in her excitement she had the strength of one of
God's angels. She had caught enough of the speech of the servants to
gather up its sense into a connected whole, and in a moment of terrible
enli