"Bah! there is no necessity to fence with me, my friend. The
moment I set eyes on you this afternoon I knew that you had not
come to Paris alone."

"You are mistaken, my good de Batz," rejoined the young man
earnestly; "I came to Paris alone."

"Clever parrying, on my word--but wholly wasted on my unbelieving
ears. Did I not note at once that you did not seem overpleased
to-day when I accosted you?"

"Again you are mistaken. I was very pleased to meet you, for I
had felt singularly lonely all day, and was glad to shake a friend
by the hand. What you took for displeasure was only surprise."

"Surprise? Ah, yes! I don't wonder that you were surprised to see
me walking unmolested and openly in the streets of Paris--whereas
you had heard of me as a dangerous conspirator, eh ?--and as a man
who has the entire police of his country at his heels--on whose
head there is a price--what?"

"I knew that you had made several noble efforts to rescue the
unfortunate King and Queen from the hands of these brutes."

"All of which efforts were unsuccessful," assented de Batz
imperturbably, "every one of them having been either betrayed by
some d--d confederate or ferreted out by some astute spy eager for
gain. Yes, my friend, I made several efforts to rescue King Louis
and Queen Marie Antoinette from the scaffold, and every time I was