scarce knew whither they were
taking him. His head ached from the blows which had fallen upon it; it
was growing dark--June day though it was,--and when first he seems to
have become exactly aware of what had happened to him, it was when he was
turned into one of the larger rooms of the Abbaye, in which all were put
who had no other allotted place wherein to sleep. One or two iron lamps
hung from the ceiling by chains, giving a dim light for a little circle.
Jacques stumbled forwards over a sleeping body lying on the ground. The
sleeper wakened up enough to complain; and the apology of the old man in
reply caught the ear of his master, who, until this time, could hardly
have been aware of the straits and difficulties of his faithful Jacques.
And there they sat,--against a pillar, the live-long night, holding one
another's hands, and each restraining expressions of pain, for fear of
adding to the other's distress. That night made them intimate friends,
in spite of the difference of age and rank. The disappointed hopes, the
acute suffering of the present, the apprehensions of the future, made
them seek solace in talking of the past. Monsieur de Crequy and the
gardener found themselves disputing with interest in which chimney of the
stack the starling used to build,--the starling whose nest Clement sent
to Urian, you remember, and discussing the merits of different espalier-
pears which grew, and may grow still, in the old garden of the Hotel de
Crequy. Towards morning both fell asleep. The old man wakened first.
His frame was deadened to suffering, I suppose, for he felt relieved of
his pain; but Clement moaned and cried in feverish slumber. His broken
arm was beginning to inflame his blood. He was, besides, much injured by
some kicks from the crowd as he fell. As the old man looked sadly on the
white, baked lips, and the flushed cheeks, contorted with suffering even
in his sleep, Clement gave a sharp cry which disturbed his miserable
neighbours, all slumbering around in uneasy attitudes. They bade him
with curses be silent; and then turning round, tried again to forget
their own misery in sleep. For you see, the bloodthirsty canaille had
not been sated with guillotining and hanging all the nobility they could
find, but were now informing, right and left, even against each other;
and when Clement and Jacques were in the prison, there were few of gentle
blood in the place, and fewer still of gentle manners. At t