ul news had reached them. Forcing my way with difficulty through
the crowd, I at length approached near enough to read the placard, on
which in large letters was written,--

"6 Avril. Le Temple.

"Charles Pichegru, ez-General Republicain, s'est e trangle
dans sa prison."

"And did Pichegru, the great conqueror of Holland, die by his own hand?"
said I, as my eye rested on the fatal bulletin.

"Don't you read it, young man?" replied a deep, solemn voice beside me,
which I at once knew was that of General George himself, "Can you doubt
the accuracy of information supplied by the police?"

The bystanders looked up with a terrified and frightened expression, as
if dreading lest the very listening to his words might be construed into
an acquiescence in them.

"Trust me, he is dead," continued he. "They who have announced his fate
here have a right to be relied on. It now only remains to be seen how he
died. These prison maladies have a strange interest for us who live
in the infected climate; and, if I mistake not, I see the 'Moniteur',
yonder, a full hour before its usual time. See what a blessing,
gentlemen, you enjoy in a paternal Government, which in moments of
public anxiety can feel for your distress and hasten to alleviate it!"

The tone of sarcasm he spoke in, the measured fall of every word, sank
into the hearers' minds, and though they stood mute, they did not even
move from the spot.

"Here is the 'Moniteur' now," said the quartermaster, opening the paper
and reading aloud.

"To his oft-repeated assurances that he would make no attempt upon his
life--'"

A rude burst of laughter from George interrupted the reader here.

"I ask your pardon, sir," said he, touching his cap; "proceed. I promise
not to interrupt you again."

"'That he would make no attempt upon his life, Greneral Pichegru
obtained permission that the sentries should be stationed outside his
cell during the night. Having provided himself with a fagot, which
he secreted beneath his bed, he supped as usual in the evening of
yesterday, eating heartily at eleven o'clock, and retiring to rest by
twelve. When thus alone he placed the stick within the folds of the
black silk cravat he generally wore round his neck, in such a manner as,
when twisted, to act like a tourniquet; and having turned it with such
a degree of force as to arrest the return of blood from the head, he
fastened it beneath his head and shoulders, and in this ma