inder to be heard.

"'Approach, Paul Ducos!' said the commissary.

"'Wait here, Father,' whispered the youth; 'I will come back presently.'

"But the old man, a fine and venerable figure, the remnant of a noble
race, held him fast, and, as his lips trembled, said, 'Do not leave me,
Paul; my child, my comforter, stay near me.'

"The boy looked round him for one face of kindly pity in this emergency,
when, turning towards me, he said rapidly, 'Stand near him!' He broke
from the old man's embrace, and rushing through the crowd, mounted the
scaffold.

"'You are drawn for the conscription, young man,' said the commissary;
'but in consideration of your father's infirmity, a substitute will be
accepted. Have you such?'

"The boy shook his head mournfully and in silence.

"'Have you any friend who would assist you here? Bethink you awhile,'
rejoined the commissary, who, for his station and duties, was a kind and
benevolent man.

"'I have none. They have left us nothing, neither home nor friends,'
said the youth, bitterly; 'and if it were not for his sake, I care not
what they do with me.'

"'Down with the tyrants!' yelled the mob, as they heard these haughty
words.

"'Then your fate is decreed,' resumed the commissary.

"'No, not yet!' cried out Alphonse, as, breaking from my side, he gained
the steps and mounted the platform; 'I will be his substitute!'

"Oh! how shall I tell the bitter anguish of that moment, which at once
dispelled the last remaining hope I cherished, and left me destitute
forever. As I dashed the tears from my eyes and looked up, the two boys
were locked in each other's arms. It was a sight to have melted any
heart, save those around them; but bloodshed and crime had choked up
every avenue of feeling, and left them, not men, but tigers.

"'Alphonse de Meringues,' cried out the boy, in answer to a question
regarding his name.

"There is no such designation in France,' said a grim-looking,
hard-featured man, who, wearing the tri-colored scarf, sat at the table
beside the clerk.

"'I was never called by any other,' rejoined the youth, proudly.

"'Citizen Meringues,' interposed the commissary, mildly, 'what is your
age?'

"'I know not the years,' replied he; 'but I have heard that I was but an
infant when they slew my father.'

"A fierce roar of passion broke from the mob below the scaffold as they
heard this; and again the cry broke forth, 'Down with the tyrants!'

"'Art thou, then, th