hey pressed forward to listen too, but La Mothe lifted his hand.

"Brethren," he said in deep, sonorous accents, "we have believed the
word of a prince, and the tyrant has lied to us. The edicts are
renewed. But, brethren, He lives that delivered His people from Egypt.
He lives that defended His Church against Caesars, kings, and
profligate princes. His shield is over us, before whose footstool we
kneel. Fear not, and be brave! And now, friends, we must part; but,
ere we part--some of us, perhaps, never to meet again--let us pray."

He knelt once more, and the people with him, and there was a deep
silence, broken at last by La Mothe's solemn voice as he began to pray
aloud. And as he prayed there came to us from without the muffled
tramp of feet, and the murmuring of many voices rising and falling like
the swell of the sea, whilst now and again a tongue, shriller and more
high-pitched than those of its fellows, would ring out a sharp,
menacing bark. Still La Mothe went on unmoved, though uneasy looks
were beginning to be exchanged; but at last he too stopped, for the
murmurs had swelled to one long roar of savage fury, and the words of
the mob reached us distinctly.

"To the fire with them! Death to the Christaudins!"

There was an instant of scared, blanched silence, and then a girl burst
into hysterical sobbing, and her voice broke the tension. In a moment
all was confusion and terror unspeakable, through which I forced my way
to mademoiselle's side. Men shouted and raved, women screamed and
prayed. Some flew to the doors, others, again, huddled together like
sheep; and from outside rose higher and higher the dreadful voice of
the mob, mad with blood lust, and ever above all rang out the harsh
clang of the tocsin of the Mathurins.

I looked at mademoiselle; her face was white and her eyes were shining,
but she held herself bravely. I drew my sword as La Mothe, the old
soldier spirit awake within him, called out in a loud voice:

"The women in the centre, gentlemen! Draw swords, and make for the
door, else we die here like rats."

His voice rang out clear and strong. The few who retained their heads
seconded him well, and in less time that I take to tell this we had
ringed in the women, and stood around them with drawn swords.

La Mothe was near the door, his spare figure erect, his look high. He
alone carried no arms. I was a few feet from him, with Diane by my
side.

In this formation we lef