like their travelling companions, the most absolute and complete
terror. Seated to the left of Jean Picot, when the bandit approached
the wine merchant, the husband, in the vain hope of maintaining a
respectable distance between himself and the Companion of Jehu,
pushed his chair back against that of his wife, who, yielding to
the pressure, in turn endeavored to push back hers. But as the
next chair was occupied by citizen Alfred de Barjols, who had
no reason to fear these men whom he had just praised so highly,
the chair of the stout man's wife encountered an obstacle in the
immovability of the young noble; so, as at Marengo, eight or
nine months later, when the general in command judged it time
to resume the offensive, the retrograde movement was arrested.

As for him--we are speaking of the citizen Alfred de Barjols--his
attitude, like that of the abbe who had given the Biblical
explanation about Jehu, King of Israel, and his mission from
Elisha, his attitude, we say, was that of a man who not only
experiences no fear, but who even expects the event in question,
however unexpected it may be. His lips wore a smile as he watched
the masked man, and had the guests not been so preoccupied with
the two principal actors in this scene, they might have remarked
the almost imperceptible sign exchanged between the eyes of the
bandit and the young noble, and transmitted instantly by the
latter to the abbe.

The two travellers whom we introduced to the table d'hote, and
who as we have said sat apart at the end of the table, preserved
an attitude conformable to their respective characters. The younger
of the two had instinctively put his hand to his side, as if to
seek an absent weapon, and had risen with a spring, as if to rush