six months Louis Blanc will be an exile, and Lamartine--he may
be in a dungeon or on a scaffold!"

"Ah!" exclaimed Mercedes, clinging yet more closely to her husband.

"But the cause of human happiness, human right and human freedom will
live forever! That must be, will be eternal--as eternal, my adored
Mercedes, as is our own deathless love!"

CHAPTER XXVII.

ESPERANCE AND ZULEIKA.

During the whole period of the memorable Revolution Zuleika never once
saw her brother, though she was burning with a desire to have an
interview with him on the subject that had caused the separation between
her young Italian lover and herself. Esperance made his home behind the
barricades, from the time the struggle began until the people finally
triumphed; gun in hand, he fought as heroically as the most devoted
workman, fearlessly exposing himself whenever the troops pressed his
comrades in arms and always in the thick of the fight. Begrimed with
dust and powder, his garments torn by bullets and bayonet thrusts, his
hat battered and rent, he encouraged the people by word and example,
constantly shouting "Vive la Republique," and contending for liberty
with the bravery of a lion and a persistency that never flagged. He,
however, escaped without a single scratch, returning to the paternal
mansion utterly worn out, but altogether unhurt, proud of having done
his duty as a man and a patriot, and of having sustained the glorious
cause for which his father was working heart and soul.

As he was slowly and wearily wending his way homeward, he suddenly
encountered M. Dantes and his friend Lamartine in the Rue Richelieu; his
gun was on his shoulder, and in his tattered attire, with the dust and
powder on his face and hands, he had the exact appearance of an
insurrectionist and a barricader. He touched his hat in military fashion
to M. Dantes and his illustrious companion, and was about passing on
when his father recognized him and, ragged and begrimed as he was, threw
his arms enthusiastically about his neck. M. Lamartine watched the
Deputy from Marseilles and could not restrain an expression of
astonishment at his singular behavior. M. Dantes smiled and, taking
Esperance by the hand, said:

"M. Lamartine, you will, I know, make every allowance for me when you
learn that this young man, who has been fighting behind the barricades
with the people, is my son!"

The head of the Provisional Government instantly grew as enthusiastic