The Washington herald., 1912-12-22

would take at least five minutes to
master them.
The taller held the door open for
De Lussac TO pass through, and they
ascended a circular stone staircase
The walls of this place were fungus
grown and still showed stains caused
BY the torches of the archers. Grbdie-
triers, and musketeers of past ages
the steps were tread-worn by the feet
of generations of prisoners, guards
! and jailerS.
They passed through another cor,
ridor till they reached stairway.
II led to another corridor, halfway
down which the jailer halted. took the
bunch of keys from his belt and OPEN
cd door.
De Lussac saw before him a square
stone cell lighted by a window. high
placed, and protected by heavy iron
bars. A bed stood in one corner, 4
table in the center. and a chair by the
table. A pitcher of water stood upon
the table
There was no other furniture at all
As he stood for a moment before
entering this place, suddenly, from
away down the corridor came the
ghost of a voice: high-pitched. cracked
and faint. as though strained through
some microscopic opening. 1t was
singing the verse OF song common in
the streets of Paris solmr twenty years
before. De Lussac, shivering. entered
the cell, drew the chair from the table
and sat down.
your supper will be brought to you
at eight" said the turnkey, speaking
for the first time Should you care
to pay you will be we'll served; you
can even have wine What money
have you?"
Il do not want wine. Bring me
paper, pens, and ink"
Paper and pens-what for"
81 wish to write to the governor"
That's what they all say" replied
the man in a grumbling voice. We'll
If it amuses you. you can have your
paper and pens, but they cost money
De LusSac took a louis from hi!
pocket and gave it TO the jailer.
That will pay you. When can
have them?'
AT eight O'Clock"
But | must have them at once"
Patience" replied the jailer.
He glanced around the cell in per.
functory manner, went out, and shu
the door With the closing of tht
door came the click of the lock, ant
then absolute and perfect silence.
The prisoner could not even hear the
footsteps of his jailcr retreating dowT
the corridor. Like the fortress ot
Saint Peter and Saint Paul, which still
exists to the shame of civilization, thC
Bastile had one supreme and crownine
terror, its silence
Silence had been built into the plact
by the masonS, who labored at those
walls thirty rect thick. Silence, old a:
the times of Louis XI. Silence, COM
plete and steadfast like this. has a per
sonality, at least during the first few
hours of ones acquaintance with 1t
1t seems TO be listening and at the
same time observing one. De Lussac
fresh from the sounds OF the street.
and the voices of people, sat for {
little while without moving. listening
scarcely breathing.
Then he rose to his feet and walked
up and down the cell irving to fine
refuge in thought But his thought:
were enough TO drive a strong man &c
despair. He saw De Richelieu sitting
at his bureau engaged in his accounts
De Richelieu would, in the coprSe OF
the next few hours. inevitably|fnd the
drawer open, and the Infamous docu'
ment lying on the other papers. He
would know to a certainty that he
De Lussac-had opened the drawer
found the document, and, worst of all
read it.
1t was a secret that concerned the
honor Of the king, as well as De Sar-
tines, and that meant imprisonment
forever for De Lussac.
Then the vision of Sophie Linder
rose before him; the woman who had
shown him what a fair thing life is to
those who love.
"Godr' cried the unfortunate, as he
looked around him at the mean and
sordid cell. the walls of granite blocks
four feet square. the he'd, the bare ia
bic. the hole in the wall that went by
name of window.
There would be rainy winter after
moons that would creep into long win
ter nights: hot summer days would
pass over the Bastile. bringing nothing
here And men would say: oh, the