te's door.
Standing at the head of the stair, he could almost overhear stray
phrases of their talk, knew that they were quite within his power.

The shaggy-haired one fairly gloated in his triumph. "Number One!" he
hissed, raising a forefinger in token that de Vaudrey--the first of
his Trinity of Hate--was in the net. "Two and Three shall come next!"
he whispered savagely, knuckling down two other fingers to mark his
vengeance on the Count and Countess.

The shaggy-haired Forget-Not hurried down the stairs, his gaunt
features baleful with unholy glee. Pointing significantly overhead, he
ordered a detail of his guards:

"Arrest de Vaudrey and all in that room!" The men at once proceeded to
carry out the order.

* * * * *

The guard captain would have been equally at home in a pirate crew or
at a land massacre. Enormous black brows and heavy moustache
accentuated his ferocity, the particolored Revolutionary garb and in
particular the red-and-white striped pantaloons gave him a bizarre
appearance like a pirate chief.

The detail were armed with muskets and bayonets. They clattered up the
stairs and burst into Henriette's room.

The lovers seemed dazed rather than affrighted. They clasped each
other again. With a little warning gesture Henriette bade Maurice say
nothing when the captain addressed him as de Vaudrey.

The villain laid a heavy hand on his victim while two of the soldiers
seized and pinioned his arms. "You are under arrest as a returned
emigre!" the head pirate said.

Then he turned his attention to Henriette who made futile little
efforts like a tiny mother wren.

"You are also under arrest, Citizeness," said the captain harshly,
"for the crime of sheltering a returned aristocrat."

"She cannot be blamed," interrupted de Vaudrey. "I entered this place,
uninvited."

"Silence!" roared the Captain. "Your plea, if any, must be made to the
Revolutionary Tribunal."

CHAPTER XXIII

BEFORE THE DREAD TRIBUNAL

That awful Tribunal sat daily. During the height of the Terror, no
time was allowed to prisoners for the preparation of their cases--no
interval elapsed between the prisoners' arrest and their arraignment.
Dispatch--_dispatch_--DISPATCH was the essence of the bloody business,
the purpose being to strike terror upon all that opposed the little
fanatical minority then in power.

Therefore the guard brought Henriette and Maurice directly from
t