.. But Danton remains a popular hero. For his work in driving back
the foreign foe, he is upraised in chair of state by the multitudes,
heading a huzzaing procession and preceded by young girls strewing
flowers.

None of the bloody butchery has been Danton's. He has been too busy
fighting Prussia, Austria and Savoy. Today, as he sits in the chair of
state acknowledging the acclamations, his heart wells in gratitude to
Henriette who had once saved his life--no face of treasured memory so
dear as hers!

[Illustration: LOVE, MASTER OF HEARTS.]

Confessedly, under the New Tyranny, there is nothing to engage the
great heart and soul. Sick of the murderous scramble for pelf and
power, he withdraws from most political activity, though still able to
exert a wide influence.

* * * * *

About this time twenty-two political rivals of Robespierre--the
Girondists--were sent by one decree to the guillotine. Danton, vainly
pleading for mercy, saw that the Committee of Safety machine was being
made an instrument of slaughter. "France must be purged of all vice!"
was Robespierre's sanctimonious reply to his passionate protest. Not
long after, the rival masters of France faced one another in the hall
of the Revolutionary Tribunal, whereof Jacques-Forget-Not was
President.

"Well works this Tribunal you established, Danton!" said Robespierre,
in glee at the increasing number of executions.

"It was established," replied the pock-marked man solemnly, "to punish
the enemies of the people. Now through you--Robespierre--France rivers
with innocent blood!"

... God help our hero and heroine if they should encounter its dread
fury!

CHAPTER XXI

ADVENTURES OF A PILGRIM

Some parts of France continued to be held by the royalists after the
establishment of the Republic.

Insurrectionary war raged in the provinces, particularly the stubborn
war of La Vendee, and certain loyal fortresses like Caen managed to
resist capture.

It was thus as a prisoner of the royalist faction, and quite out of
touch with worldshaking events, that our young hero Chevalier Maurice
de Vaudrey lived through the earlier period of the Revolution.

A love-message from him through Picard to Henriette--an unsuccessful
attempt to escape; a glimpse of the still handsomely frizzed and
powdered head gazing through trefoil Gothic window on the outer
sunshine and liberty:--such is all that we may see of de Vaudre