taking the prisoners' swords from the soldiers who held them, they
seized them by the hilt and point, and broke them over their owners'
heads, exclaiming, as each snapped in two, "This is the sword of a
traitor!" This ceremony over, they were stripped of their uniforms,
which were replaced by coarse grey smock-frocks, and they were then led
back to prison. The evening of the same day they set out for Siberia.

I returned to Louise, whom I found on her knees, praying and weeping.
She looked at me as I entered the room as though afraid to interrogate
me; but I relieved her anxiety by informing her that all had passed as
announced in the _Gazette_. She raised her eyes to heaven with an
expression of pious gratitude.

After a pause, "How far is it from here to Tobolsk?" she enquired.

"About eight hundred leagues."

"It is not so far as I thought," was her observation. I looked at her
for a moment in silence. I began to suspect her intentions.

"Why do you ask the question?" enquired I.

"Can you not guess?"

"But, Louise, it is impossible, at least at this moment."

"Do not be uneasy, my friend. I know my duty to my child, and my
affection for its father shall not make me forget it. I will wait."

It was not without a motive that the Count's mother and sisters had been