n to cries which were too frequent in that street to cause any
uneasiness, and that if the watch arrived, it would be, according to the
custom of that estimable force, long after their intervention could be
of any avail. The inspection of the ground finished, the plans laid, and
the number of the house taken, they separated; the abbe to go to the
Arsenal to give Madame de Maine an account of the proceedings, and
D'Harmental to return to his attic.

As on the preceding night, Bathilde's room was lighted, but this time
the young girl was not drawing but working; her light was not put out
till one o'clock in the morning. As to the good man, he had retired long
before D'Harmental returned. The chevalier slept badly; between a love
at its commencement and a conspiracy at its height, he naturally
experienced some sensations little favorable to sleep; but toward
morning fatigue prevailed, and he only awoke on feeling himself
violently shaken by the arm. Without doubt the chevalier was at that
moment in some bad dream, of which this appeared to him the end, for,
still half asleep, he stretched out his hand toward the pistols which
were at his side.

"Ah, ah!" cried the abbe, "an instant, young man. What a hurry you are
in! Open your eyes wide--so. Do you not recognize me?"

"Ah!" said D'Harmental, laughing, "it is you, abbe. You did well to stop
me. I dreamed that I was arrested."

"A good sign," said the Abbe Brigaud: "you know that dreams always go by
contraries. All will go well."

"Is there anything new?" asked D'Harmental.

"And if there were, how would you receive it?"

"I should be enchanted. A thing of this kind once undertaken, the sooner
it is finished the better."

"Well, then," said Brigaud, drawing a paper from his pocket and
presenting it to the chevalier, "read, and glorify the name of the Lord,
for you have your wish."

D'Harmental took the paper, unfolded it as calmly as if it were a matter
of no moment, and read as follows:

"_Report of the 27th of March._

"Two in the Morning.

"To-night at ten o'clock the regent received a courier
from London, who announces for to-morrow the arrival of
the Abbe Dubois. As by chance the regent was supping
with madame, the dispatch was given to him in spite of
the late hour. Some minutes before, Mademoiselle de
Chartres had asked permission of her father to perform
her devotions at the Abbey of Chelles, and he had