feeling his soul penetrated
with an infinite longing for peace and solitude.

Like a sweet echo of his thoughts, Elodie's voice sighed in his ear:

"Do you remember, Evariste, how, at sight of the green fields, you
wanted to be a country justice in a village? Yes, that would be
happiness."

But above the rustling of the trees and the girl's voice, he could hear
the tocsin and alarm-drums, the distant tramp of horses, and rumbling of
cannon along the streets.

Two steps from them a young man, who was talking to an elegantly attired
_citoyenne_, remarked:

"Have you heard the latest?... The Opera is installed in the Rue de la
Loi."

Meantime the news was spreading; Robespierre's name was spoken, but in a
shuddering whisper, for men feared him still. Women, when they heard the
muttered rumour of his fall, concealed a smile.

Evariste Gamelin seized Elodie's hand, but dropped it again swiftly next
moment:

"Farewell! I have involved you in my hideous fortunes, I have blasted
your life for ever. Farewell! I pray you may forget me!"

"Whatever you do," she warned him, "do not go back home to-night. Come
to the _Amour peintre_. Do not ring; throw a pebble at my shutters. I
will come and open the door to you myself; I will hide you in the
loft."

"You shall see me return triumphant, or you shall never see me more.
Farewell!"

On nearing the Hotel de Ville, he caught the well-remembered roar of the
old great days rising to the grey heavens. In the Place de Greve a clash
of arms, the glitter of scarfs and uniforms, Hanriot's cannon drawn up.
He mounts the grand stairs and, entering the Council Hall, signs the
attendance book. The Council General of the Commune, by the unanimous
voice of the 491 members present, declares for the outlawed patriots.

The Mayor sends for the Table of the Rights of Man, reads the clause
which runs, "When the Government violates the Rights of the people,
insurrection is for the people the most sacred and the most
indispensable of duties," and the first magistrate of Paris announces
that the Commune's answer to the Convention's act of violence is to
raise the populace in insurrection.

The members of the Council General take oath to die at their posts. Two
municipal officers are deputed to go out on the Place de Greve and
invite the people to join with their magistrates in saving the
fatherland and freedom.

There is an endless looking for friends, exchanging news, giving advice.
Am