and, she motioned to me
to come over to her.

'Yes; let him come,' said Gougon, as if answering the half-reluctant
glances of the crowd. And now I was assisted to descend, and passed
along over the heads of the people, till I was placed upon the scaffold.
Never can I forget the terror of that moment, as I stood within a few
feet of the terrible guillotine, and saw beside me the horrid basket
splashed with recent blood.

'Look not at these things, child,' said the old lady, as she took my
hand and drew me towards her, 'but listen to me, and mark my words
well.'

'I will, I will,' cried I, as the hot tears rolled down my cheeks.

'Tell the pere--you will see him to-night--tell him that I have changed
my mind, and resolved upon another course, and that he is not to leave
Paris. Let them remain. The torrent runs too rapidly to last. This
cannot endure much longer. We shall be among the last victims. You hear
me, child?'

'I do, I do,' cried I, sobbing. 'Why is not the Pere Michel with you
now?'

'Because he is suing for my pardon--asking for mercy where its very name
is a derision. Kneel down beside me, and repeat the "Angelus."'

I took off my cap, and knelt down at her feet, reciting, in a voice
broken by emotion, the words of the prayer. She repeated each syllable
after me, in a tone full and unshaken, and then stooping, she took up
the lily which lay in my cap. She pressed it to her lips two or three
times passionately. 'Give it to _her_; tell her I kissed it at my last
moment. Tell her----'

'This "shrift" is beyond endurance. Away, holy father!' cried Gougon, as
he pushed me rudely back, and seized the marquise by the wrist. A faint
cry escaped her. I heard no more; for, jostled and pushed about by the
crowd, I was driven to the very rails of the scaffold. Stepping beneath
these, I mingled with the mob beneath; and burning with eagerness to
escape a scene, to have witnessed which would almost have made my
heart break, I forced my way into the dense mass, and, by squeezing and
creeping, succeeded at last in penetrating to the verge of the Place. A
terrible shout, and a rocking motion of the mob, like the heavy surging
of the sea, told me that all was over; but I never looked back to the
fatal spot, but, having gained the open streets, ran at the top of my
speed towards home.

CHAPTER II. THE RESTAURANT 'AU SCELERAT'

As I gained the street, at a distance from the Place, I was able to
increase my spe