t that he must now tear himself away before his courage failed
him; each moment he was more loath to leave the only being who bound
him to this world; he enveloped Valentine in a last fond embrace, and
started up.

"What is your plan of escape?" she asked.

"I shall go to Marseilles, and hide in a friend's house until I can
procure a passage to America."

"You must have assistance; I will secure you a guide in whom I have
unbounded confidence; old Menoul, the ferryman, who lives near us. He
owns the boat which he plies on the Rhone."

The lovers passed through the little park gate, of which Gaston had the
key, and soon reached the boatman's cabin.

He was asleep in an easy-chair by the fire. When Valentine stood before
him with Gaston, the old man jumped up, and kept rubbing his eyes,
thinking it must be a dream.

"Pere Menoul," said Valentine, "M. Gaston is compelled to fly the
country; he wants to be rowed out to sea, so that he can secretly
embark. Can you take him in your boat as far as the mouth of the Rhone?"

"It is impossible," said the old man, shaking his head; "I would not
dare venture on the river in its present state."

"But, Pere Menoul, it would be of immense service to me; would you not
venture for my sake?"

"For your sake? certainly I would, Mlle. Valentine: I will do anything
to gratify you. I am ready to start."

He looked at Gaston, and, seeing his clothes wet and covered with mud,
said to him:

"Allow me to offer you my dead son's clothes, monsieur; they will serve
as a disguise: come this way."

In a few minutes Pere Menoul returned with Gaston, whom no one would
have recognized in his sailor dress.

Valentine went with them to the place where the boat was moored. While
the old man was unfastening it, the disconsolate lovers tearfully
embraced each other for the last time.

"In three years, my own Valentine; promise to wait three years for me!
If alive, I will then see you."

"Adieu, mademoiselle," interrupted the boatman; "and you, monsieur, hold
fast, and keep steady."

Then with a vigorous stroke of the boat-hook he sent the bark into the
middle of the stream.

Three days later, thanks to the assistance of Pere Menoul, Gaston was
concealed on the three-masted American vessel, Tom Jones, which was to
start the next day for Valparaiso.

XIV

Cold and white as a marble statue, Valentine stood on the bank of the
river, watching the frail bark which was carrying her l