cellinus, will
succeed to the Papal See, and Italy will be a republic; Genoa, Venice,
Naples, Lombardy, Piedmont and Sardinia will be sister yet sovereign
states, forming one union--the constellation of freedom, the favorite
scheme of Napoleon's better days at last achieving reality. Switzerland,
with her green hills and her field Morgarten, her priestly despots
expelled, shall also be free. But I weary you, Messieurs."

"By no means," cried Marrast, cordially clasping M. Dantes by the hand.
"I have listened in silence to your earnest exposition of the policy you
suggest, and so truly do I subscribe to it that, henceforth, I am your
disciple and adopt your motto, 'Wait and hope' for my own. But it is
nearly two o'clock. In an hour the Chamber sits."

"And, meanwhile, Messieurs," interrupted M. Dantes, "I know not that we
can better employ ourselves, after so protracted a seance, than to
repair to Vefour's. This talking is hungry work, and listening and
thinking, which are by far more tedious, are still more so. So to
Vefour's."

"The seance 'National' is closed!" cried Ledru Rollin, laughing, as the
whole company descended the gloomy stairs.

CHAPTER XII.

THE MYSTERIOUS PRIMA DONNA.

All fashionable Paris was excited over the announcement of a new prima
donna, whose wonderful achievements in Italian opera had set even the
exacting critics of Italy wild with enthusiasm and delight.

This great artiste was no other than the renowned Louise d'Armilly. She
had never before sung in the presence of a Parisian audience, but her
fame had preceded her, and it was accepted as certain that her triumph
at the Academie Royale would be both instantaneous and overwhelming.

She was to assume the role of Lucrezia Borgia, in Donizetti's brilliant
opera of that name, a role in which the enterprising director of the
Academie Royale assured the expectant public that she possessed no
equal.

For weeks every Parisian journal had been sounding her praises with
unremitting zeal, and now her name was as familiar as a household word
in all the high society salons, where the ladies and their gallants
could talk of nothing but the approaching operatic event, while in the
cafes and on the boulevards an equal degree of interest was exhibited.

Even the masses, notwithstanding the political agitation in which they
were involved, had caught the prevailing excitement, and the leaders of
the contending parties themselves paused amid