lf upon this accidental meeting rather than
his own shrewdness, he quickly dismounted. A moment's thought, and he
followed the lease-holders.

In the attack on the manor, his purpose, apart from theirs, led him to
anticipate the general movement of the anti-renters in front of the
house and to make his way alone, aided by fortuitous circumstances, to
the room where the land baron had taken refuge. As he sprang into this
chamber the young girl's exclamation of fear was but the prelude to an
expression of gladness, while Mauville's consternation when he found
himself disarmed and powerless, was as great as his surprise. For a
moment, therefore, in his bearing bravado was tempered with
hesitancy.

"You here?" stammered the land baron, as he involuntarily recoiled
from his own weapon.

The soldier contemptuously thrust the revolver into his pocket. "As
you see," he said coldly, "and in a moment, they"--indicating the
door--"will be here!"

"You think to turn me over to them!" exclaimed the other violently.
"But you do not know me! This is no quarrel of yours. Give me my
weapon, and let me fight it out with them!"

The soldier's glance rested for a moment on the young girl and his
face grew stern and menacing.

"By heaven, I am half-minded to take you at your word! But you shall
have one chance--a slender one! There is the window; it opens on the
portico!"

"And if I refuse?"

"They have brought a rope with them. Go, or hang!"

The heir hesitated, but as he pondered, the anti-renters were
effectually shattering the heavy door, regaling themselves with
threats taught them by the politicians who had advocated their cause
on the stump, preached it in the legislature, or grown eloquent over
it in the constitutional assembly.

"The serfs are here! The drawers of water and hewers of wood have
arisen! Hang the land baron! Hang the feudal lord!"

A braver man than Mauville might have been cowed by that chorus. But
after pausing irresolutely, weighing the chances of life and death,
gazing jealously upon the face of the apprehensive girl, and
venomously at the intruder, the heir finally made a virtue of
necessity and strode to the window. With conflicting emotions
struggling in his mind--fury toward the lease-holders, hatred for the
impassive mediator--he yet regained, in a measure, an outwardly calm
bearing.

[Illustration]

"It's a poor alternative," he said, shortly, flashing a last glance at
the actress. "But i