ur sudden appearance might tumble to the ground?'

"I was listening dumfounded.

"Never had such conjectures crossed my mind; and, whilst I doubted
their probability, I had, at least, to admit their possibility.

"'What must I do, then?' I inquired.

"The peace-officer shook his head.

"'Indeed, my poor child, I hardly know what to advise. The police
is not omnipotent. It can do nothing to anticipate a crime conceived
in the brain of an unknown scoundrel.'

"I was terrified. He saw it, and took pity on me.

"'In your place,' he added, 'I would change my domicile. You might,
perhaps, thus make them lose your track. And, above all, do not
fail to give me your new address. Whatever I can do to protect you,
and insure your safety, I shall do.'

"That excellent man has kept his word; and once again I owed my
safety to him. 'Tis he who is now commissary of police in this
district, and who protected me against Mme. Fortin. I hastened to
follow his advice, and two days later I had hired the room in this
house in which I am still living. In order to avoid every chance
of discovery, I left my employer, and requested her to say, if any
one came to inquire after me, that I had gone to America.

"I soon found work again in a very fashionable dress-making
establishment, the name of which you must have heard,--Van Klopen's.
Unfortunately, war had just been declared. Every day announced a new
defeat. The Prussians were coming; then the siege began. Van Klopen
had closed his shop, and left Paris. I had a few savings, thank
heaven; and I husbanded them as carefully as shipwrecked mariners do
their last ration of food, when I unexpectedly found some work.

"It was one Sunday, and I had gone out to see some battalions of
National Guards passing along the Boulevard, when suddenly I saw
one of the vivandieres, who was marching behind the band, stop, and
run towards me with open arms. It was my old friend from the
Batignolles, who had recognized me. She threw her arms around my
neck, and, as we had at once become the centre of a group of at
least five hundred idlers,

"'I must speak to you,' she said. 'If you live in the neighborhood,
let's go to your room. The service can wait.'

"I brought her here, and at once she commenced to excuse herself
for her past conduct, begging me to restore her my friendship. As
I expected, she had long since forgotten the young man, cause of
our rupture. But she was now in love