123

XVI.--PASQUEDIEU! 132

XVII.--"KILL HIM DEAD, RAOUL!" 140

XVIII.--LA GALERE GRANDE REALE 149

XIX.--"A NEW LIFE" 158

XX.--"HURRY, HURRY, HURRY!" 166

XXI.--MAY, 1692 175

XXII.--LA HOGUE 183

XXIII.--THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH 191

XXIV.--ON THE ROAD 199

XXV.--"I KNOW YOUR FACE" 207

XXVI.--IN THE SNARE 216

XXVII.--ANOTHER ESCAPE 224

XXVIII.--THE FLEUR-DE-LIS 231

XXIX.--FAREWELL HOPE 240

XXX.--"IT IS TRUE" 248

XXXI.--ST. GEORGES'S DOOM 256

XXXII.--THE LAST CHANCE 265

XXXIII.--THE DAY OF EXECUTION 274

XXXIV.--"I WILL NEVER FORGIVE HER" 283

XXXV.--AT LAST 291

CONCLUSION 300

* * * * *

IN THE DAY OF ADVERSITY.

THE FIRST PERIOD.

CHAPTER I.

"THE KING'S COMMAND."

All over Franche-Comte the snow had fallen for three days unceasingly,
yet through it for those three days a man--a soldier--had ridden,
heading his course north, for Paris.

Wrapped in his cloak, and prevented from falling by his bridle arm, he
bore a little child--a girl some three years old--on whom, as the
cloak would sometimes become disarranged, he would look down fondly,
his firm, grave features relaxing into a sad smile as the blue eyes of
the little creature gazed upward and smiled into his own face. Then he
would whisper a word of love to it, press it closer to his great
breast, and again ride on.

For three days the snow had fallen; was falling when he left the
garrison of Pontarlier and threaded his way through the pine woods on
the Jura slopes; fell still as, with the wintry night close at hand,
he approached the city of Dijon. Yet, except to sleep at nights, to
rest himself, the