t "Liberty, Fraternity, and
Equality"--these egotistical, narrow-minded young people;--they also
forgot the characteristic alternative to those unparalleled
blessings--"Death." But Prosper Alix did not forget any of these things;
and his consternation, his provision of suffering for his beloved
daughter, were terrible, when she told him, with a simple noble
frankness which the _grandes dames_ of the dead-and-gone time of great
ladies had rarely had a chance of exhibiting, that she loved M. Paul de
Senanges, and intended to marry him when the better times should come.
Perhaps she meant when that alternative of _death_ should be struck off
the sacred formula;--of course she meant to marry him with the sanction
of her father, which she made no doubt she should receive.

Prosper Alix was in pitiable perplexity. He could not bear to terrify
his daughter by a full explanation of the danger she was incurring; he
could not bear to delude her with false hope. If this young man could be
got away at once safely, there was not much likelihood that he would
ever be able to return to France. Would Berthe pine for him, or would
she forget him, and make a rational, sensible, rich, republican
marriage, which would not imperil either her reputation for pure
patriotism or her father's? The latter would be the very best thing that
could possibly happen, and therefore it was decidedly unwise to
calculate upon it; but, after all, it was possible; and Prosper had not
the courage, in such a strait, to resist the hopeful promptings of a
possibility. How ardently he regretted that he had complied with the
prayer of the _ci-devant_! When would the signal for Mr. Paul's
departure come?

Prosper Alix had made many sacrifices, had exercised much self-control
for his daughter's sake; but he had never sustained a more severe trial
than this, never suffered more than he did now, under the strong
necessity for hiding from her his absolute conviction of the
impossibility of a happy result for this attachment, in that future to
which the lovers looked so fearlessly. He could not even make his
anxiety and apprehension known to Paul de Senanges; for he did not
believe the young man had sufficient strength of will to conceal
anything so important from the keen and determined observation of
Berthe.

The expected signal was not given, and the lovers were incautious. The
seclusion of the Maison Alix had all the danger, as well as all the
delight, of solitud