her so long loved and truly--the saint of my
childhood--the pride and hope of my youth--torn from me for ever, and
delivered over to the unholy arms of the murderer who stood before me.

The door of St. Just's private apartment opened, and he took his seat at
the table of mayoralty just as Schneider and his cortege arrived before
it.

Schneider then said that he came in before the authorities of the
Republic to espouse the citoyenne Marie Ancel.

"Is she a minor?" asked St. Just.

"She is a minor, but her father is here to give her away."

"I am here," said uncle Edward, coming eagerly forward and bowing.
"Edward Ancel, so please you, citizen representative. The worthy citizen
Schneider has done me the honor of marrying into my family."

"But my father has not told you the terms of the marriage," said Mary,
interrupting him, in a loud, clear voice.

Here Schneider seized her hand, and endeavored to prevent her from
speaking. Her father turned pale, and cried, "Stop, Mary, stop! For
heaven's sake, remember your poor old father's danger!"

"Sir, may I speak?"

"Let the young woman speak," said St. Just, "if she have a desire to
talk." He did not suspect what would be the purport of her story.

"Sir," she said, "two days since the citizen Schneider entered for the
first time our house; and you will fancy that it must be a love of very
sudden growth which has brought either him or me before you to-day. He
had heard from a person who is now unhappily not present, of my name and
of the wealth which my family was said to possess; and hence arose this
mad design concerning me. He came into our village with supreme power,
an executioner at his heels, and the soldiery and authorities of the
district entirely under his orders. He threatened my father with death
if he refused to give up his daughter; and I, who knew that there was no
chance of escape, except here before you, consented to become his wife.
My father I know to be innocent, for all his transactions with the State
have passed through my hands. Citizen representative, I demand to be
freed from this marriage; and I charge Schneider as a traitor to the
Republic, as a man who would have murdered an innocent citizen for the
sake of private gain."

During the delivery of this little speech, uncle Jacob had been sobbing
and panting like a broken-winded horse; and when Mary had done, he
rushed up to her and kissed her, and held her tight in his arms. "Bless
thee, m