t may be called, there blended a feeling of curiosity
which grew more lively day by day. They talked over the circumstances
of his first sudden appearance, their conjectures were endless; the
stranger had conferred one more benefit upon them by diverting their
minds. Again, and again, they said, when he next came to see them as he
promised, to celebrate the sad anniversary of the death of Louis XVI.,
he could not escape their friendship.

The night so impatiently awaited came at last. At midnight the old
wooden staircase echoed with the stranger's heavy footsteps. They had
made the best of their room for his coming; the altar was ready, and
this time the door stood open, and the two Sisters were out at the
stairhead, eager to light the way. Mademoiselle de Langeais even came
down a few steps, to meet their benefactor the sooner.

"Come," she said, with a quaver in the affectionate tones, "come in; we
are expecting you."

He raised his face, gave her a dark look, and made no answer. The sister
felt as if an icy mantle had fallen over her, and said no more. At the
sight of him, the glow of gratitude and curiosity died away in their
hearts. Perhaps he was not so cold, not so taciturn, not so stern as he
seemed to them, for in their highly wrought mood they were ready to pour
out their feeling of friendship. But the three poor prisoners understood
that he wished to be a stranger to them; and submitted. The priest
fancied that he saw a smile on the man's lips as he saw their
preparations for his visit, but it was at once repressed. He heard mass,
said his prayer, and then disappeared, declining, with a few polite
words, Mademoiselle de Langeais' invitation to partake of the little
collation made ready for him.

After the 9th Thermidor, the Sisters and the Abbe de Marolles could go
about Paris without the least danger. The first time that the abbe went
out he walked to a perfumer's shop at the sign of _The Queen of Roses_,
kept by the Citizen Ragon and his wife, court perfumers. The Ragons
had been faithful adherents of the Royalist cause; it was through their
means that the Vendean leaders kept up a correspondence with the Princes
and the Royalist Committee in Paris. The abbe, in the ordinary dress of
the time, was standing on the threshold of the shop--which stood between
Saint Roch and the Rue des Frondeurs--when he saw that the Rue Saint
Honore was filled with a crowd and he could not go out.

"What is the matter?" h