re the ducal palace. The duchess, with one gentleman
and three ladies, entered, and in the darkness the carriage was
rapidly driven a short distance from the gate of Massa, when, upon
some pretext, it stopped for a moment beneath the shadow of a high
wall. While some directions were given, to engage the attention of
the postilion, the duchess, with Mademoiselle Lebeschu and M. de
Brissac, glided out of the door unperceived, when the door was shut
and the horses again set out upon the gallop for Florence.

The duchess and her friends stealthily moved along under the shadow
of the wall, until they reached a secluded spot upon the sea-shore
where the steamer was expected. The major of a body of troops in
that vicinity joined them, with a lantern, as a signal to guide the
boat from the expected steamer to the shore. Here they remained, in
breathless silence and in much anxiety, for an hour. Just as the
clocks in the distant churches were tolling the hour of midnight, a
feeble light was seen far away over the water. It was the Carlo
Alberto, the steamer for which they were waiting. Rapidly it
approached; a boat was sent ashore. The Princess Marie Caroline, worn
out with cares and anxieties, or--which is the more
probable--possessed of that gay, untroubled spirit which no cares
could agitate, was wrapped in her cloak and soundly asleep on the
sand. Her companions did not awake her till the boat was about to
touch the beach. It was three o'clock in the morning. The duchess and
her suite, composing a party of seven--Mademoiselle Lebeschu being
her only lady attendant--were soon transferred from the shore to the
deck of the Carlo Alberto.

All were conscious that the enterprise upon which they had embarked
was perilous in the extreme. Its success would greatly depend upon
what is called chance. The duchess appeared calm and cheerful, as if
determined not to doubt of a triumphant result, and manifestly
resolved to wipe from the Bourbon name the charge of pusillanimity
which it has so often incurred.

To avoid the French cruisers the Carlo Alberto kept far out to sea,
and did not reach Marseilles until midnight of the 28th. The party
was to be landed near the light-house, where a rendezvous had been
fixed for the small but determined band who were to meet her there.
The moment the steamer cast anchor the signal of two lanterns was
raised, one at the foremast head and the other at the mizzen-mast
head, which signal was instantl