nd then a hush, while again the _procureur's_ voice was heard:

"I pray your lordships to appoint a day and hour on which your
righteous sentence shall be carried out."

"The decree of the court is that the sentence be carried out at the
daybreak following the time when forty-eight hours shall have elapsed
from now."

"In the name of justice I thank your lordships.--Prisoner," and the
_procureur_ turned to him, "you hear and understand your sentence?"

"Yes, I hear and understand it."

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE LAST CHANCE.

Outside the court all was sunshine and brightness on that June
evening, and all the people streaming out in the warm air--that yet
seemed fresh and cool after the stuffiness within--chattered and
laughed and chuckled at the exciting day they had had.

"For, _figurez vous_," said one, a hideous creature, "when we went to
see the marchioness tried we could only hope she would be condemned,
though all the while we know well that for the _noblesse_ there is no
serious punishment. _Ma foi!_ what a punishment! Twenty pistoles--a
sum she pays weekly, I'll be sworn, for absolution--and a _retraite_
from Paris for a year. _Tiens!_ she was not ill favoured, that
marchioness; she will doubtless have a score of lovers follow her into
the country. Say, Babette," and she turned to a pale-faced girl by her
side, "shall we go to the Place de Greve to see that villain broken?
Daybreak, after forty-eight hours; that will be daybreak on Monday.
To-day is Friday!"

"Not I," the pale-faced girl replied. "For my part I could pity
him--only that he fought against France. _Il etait beau, cet homme la
bas._ His mustache was enough to set a girl dreaming. And his eyes!
_Ciel!_ what eyes, when he faced the old _herisson_, De Rennie!"

"Ah, bah! His eyes! Curse them, and him, too! He is a traitor."

"All the same, he is handsome. I wonder how many women love him?"

But now they stood apart from the courtyard to look at a troop of the
Mousquetaires Noirs riding away from the precincts of the court
itself--where they had been on guard all day--and to admire their
trappings and bravery. And the pale-faced girl, who seemed--like many
other pale-faced, cadaverous girls!--to have a great appreciation of
manly beauty, tugged at her companion's arm, and bade her observe the
two handsome officers in conversation under the gateway.

"See, Manon, see!" she exclaimed. "There is the one who said he was
son to the Duc de--