old as hostage for his good faith."

"The other life?"

"Yes. Your sister, Lady Blakeney, will also join the expedition
to-morrow. This Sir Percy does not yet know; but it will come as a
pleasant surprise for him. At the slightest suspicion of false play on
Sir Percy's part, at his slightest attempt at escape, your life and that
of your sister are forfeit; you will both be summarily shot before his
eyes. I do not think that I need be more precise, eh, citizen St. Just?"

The young man was quivering with passion. A terrible loathing for
himself, for his crime which had been the precursor of this terrible
situation, filled his soul to the verge of sheer physical nausea. A red
film gathered before his eyes, and through it he saw the grinning face
of the inhuman monster who had planned this hideous, abominable thing.
It seemed to him as if in the silence and the hush of the night, above
the feeble, flickering flame that threw weird shadows around, a group of
devils were surrounding him, and were shouting, "Kill him! Kill him now!
Rid the earth of this hellish brute!"

No doubt if Chauvelin had exhibited the slightest sign of fear, if he
had moved an inch towards the door, Armand, blind with passion, driven
to madness by agonising remorse more even than by rage, would have
sprung at his enemy's throat and crushed the life out of him as he would
out of a venomous beast. But the man's calm, his immobility, recalled
St. Just to himself. Reason, that had almost yielded to passion again,
found strength to drive the enemy back this time, to whisper a warning,
an admonition, even a reminder. Enough harm, God knows, had been done
by tempestuous passion already. And God alone knew what terrible
consequences its triumph now might bring in its trial, and striking on
Armand's buzzing ears Chauvelin's words came back as a triumphant and
mocking echo:

"He'll be a dead man at dawn if I do not put in an appearance by six
o'clock."

The red film lifted, the candle flickered low, the devils vanished, only
the pale face of the Terrorist gazed with gentle irony out of the gloom.

"I think that I need not detain you any longer, citizen, St. Just," he
said quietly; "you can get three or four hours' rest yet before you need
make a start, and I still have a great many things to see to. I wish you
good-night, citizen."

"Good-night," murmured Armand mechanically.

He took the candle and escorted his visitor back to the door. He waited
on