spectfully, and no less respectfully, though firmly, informed him
that, by order of the Citizen-deputy Billaud Varennes, he must ask him
to confine himself to his own apartments until further orders.

"But why, Citizen-officer?" La Boulaye demanded, striving to exclude
from his voice any shade of the chagrin that was besetting him. "What do
these orders mean?"

The officer was courtesy personified, but explanations he had none to
give, for the excellent reason, he urged that he was possessed of none.
He was a soldier, and he had received orders which he must obey, without
questioning either their wisdom or their justice. Appreciating the
futility of bearing himself otherwise, since his retreat was already
blocked by a couple of gendarmes, Caron submitted to the inevitable.

He mounted leisurely to his study, and the ruin that stared him in
the eyes was enough to have daunted the boldest of men. Yet, to do him
justice, he was more concerned at the moment with the consequences this
turn of affairs might have for Mademoiselle than with his own impending
downfall. That he had Cecile to thank for his apprehension he never
doubted. Yet it was a reflection that he readily dismissed from his
mind. In such a pass as he now found himself none but a weakling could
waste time and energy in bewailing the circumstances that had conspired
to it. In a man of La Boulaye's calibre and mettle it was more befitting
to seek a means to neutralise as much as possible the evil done.

He called Brutus and cross-questioned him regarding the attitude and
behaviour of the soldiery since their coming. He learnt that nothing
had been touched by them, and that they were acting with the utmost
discreetness, taking scrupulous care not to exceed the orders they had
received, which amounted to detaining La Boulaye and nothing more.

"You think, then, that you might come and go unmolested?" he asked.

"I think that I might certainly go. But whether they would permit me
to return once I had left, I cannot say. So that they will let you pass
out, that is all that signifies at the moment," said Caron. "Should they
question you, you can tell them that you are going to dine and to fetch
me my dinner from Berthon's. As a matter of fact, I shall want you to go
to Choisy with a letter, which you must see does not fall into the hands
of any of these people of the Convention."

"Give me the letter, Citizen, and trust me to do the rest," answered the
faithful