ying pressure of her fingers. When Victor
was all but flung out of the saddle, she clutched her father with a
convulsive grip as if she herself were in danger of falling, and the
old man looked at his daughter's tell-tale face with dark and painful
anxiety. Pity, jealousy, something even of regret stole across every
drawn and wrinkled line of mouth and brow. When he saw the unwonted
light in Julie's eyes, when that cry broke from her, when the convulsive
grasp of her fingers drew away the veil and put him in possession of
her secret, then with that revelation of her love there came surely some
swift revelation of the future. Mournful forebodings could be read in
his own face.

Julie's soul seemed at that moment to have passed into the officer's
being. A torturing thought more cruel than any previous dread contracted
the old man's painworn features, as he saw the glance of understanding
that passed between the soldier and Julie. The girl's eyes were wet, her
cheeks glowed with unwonted color. Her father turned abruptly and led
her away into the Garden of the Tuileries.

"Why, father," she cried, "there are still the regiments in the Place du
Carrousel to be passed in review."

"No, child, all the troops are marching out."

"I think you are mistaken, father; M. d'Aiglemont surely told them to
advance----"

"But I feel ill, my child, and I do not care to stay."

Julie could readily believe the words when she glanced at his face; he
looked quite worn out by his fatherly anxieties.

"Are you feeling very ill?" she asked indifferently, her mind was so
full of other thoughts.

"Every day is a reprieve for me, is it not?" returned her father.

"Now do you mean to make me miserable again by talking about your death?
I was in such spirits! Do pray get rid of those horrid gloomy ideas of
yours."

The father heaved a sigh. "Ah! spoiled child," he cried, "the best
hearts are sometimes very cruel. We devote our whole lives to you, you
are our one thought, we plan for your welfare, sacrifice our tastes to
your whims, idolize you, give the very blood in our veins for you, and
all this is nothing, is it? Alas! yes, you take it all as a matter of
course. If we would always have your smiles and your disdainful love, we
should need the power of God in heaven. Then comes another, a lover, a
husband, and steals away your heart."

Julie looked in amazement at her father; he walked slowly along, and
there was no light in the eyes