ye--that wooden
hut, and he, her husband, walking blindly to his doom.

Suddenly, those same keen instincts within her made her pause in her mad
haste, and cower still further within the shadow of the hedge. The moon,
which had proved a friend to her by remaining hidden behind a bank of
clouds, now emerged in all the glory of an early autumn night, and in a
moment flooded the weird and lonely landscape with a rush of brilliant
light.

There, not two hundred metres ahead, was the edge of the cliff, and
below, stretching far away to free and happy England, the sea rolled on
smoothly and peaceably. Marguerite's gaze rested for an instant on the
brilliant, silvery waters; and as she gazed, her heart, which had been
numb with pain for all these hours, seemed to soften and distend, and
her eyes filled with hot tears: not three miles away, with white sails
set, a graceful schooner lay in wait.

Marguerite had guessed rather than recognized her. It was the DAY DREAM,
Percy's favourite yacht, and all her crew of British sailors: her
white sails, glistening in the moonlight, seemed to convey a message
to Marguerite of joy and hope, which yet she feared could never be. She
waited there, out at sea, waited for her master, like a beautiful white
bird all ready to take flight, and he would never reach her, never
see her smooth deck again, never gaze any more on the white cliffs of
England, the land of liberty and of hope.

The sight of the schooner seemed to infuse into the poor, wearied woman
the superhuman strength of despair. There was the edge of the cliff, and
some way below was the hut, where presently, her husband would meet his
death. But the moon was out: she could see her way now: she would see
the hut from a distance, run to it, rouse them all, warn them at any
rate to be prepared and to sell their lives dearly, rather than be
caught like so many rats in a hole.

She stumbled on behind the hedge in the low, thick grass of the ditch.
She must have run on very fast, and had outdistanced Chauvelin and
Desgas, for presently she reached the edge of the cliff, and heard their
footsteps distinctly behind her. But only a very few yards away, and now
the moonlight was full upon her, her figure must have been distinctly
silhouetted against the silvery background of the sea.

Only for a moment, though; the next she had cowered, like some animal
doubled up within itself. She peeped down the great rugged cliffs--the
descent woul