The Washington herald., 1912-12-22
CHAPTER K (COntinued).

De Lussac cast his eye on the Hotel
dHarlancourt; at one of the upper
windows a woman who had been gaz-
. ing out withdrew hurriedly, but not
before he had caught glimpse of her
face. 1t was Madame d'Harlancourt.
Without another word he turned to
the carriage; followed by Beauregard,
he entered it, delivered up his sword,
and the coachman, whipping up his
horses. they started.
Partly stunned by the blow that had
fallen on him, De Lussac for some time
did not even glance through the win
dows to see what direction they were
taking.
BY his indiScretion in returning 10
Paris he had lost the game, he had
sacrificed Barthelmy and Conflans. he
had sacrificed, most probably, his own
life and the love which had suddenly
come to him, making life thing to be
desired. Monsieur dc Richelieu would
undoubtedly. before the morrow, tlnd
that his bereau had been tampered with
and would fix, rightly. the glame OIL
him. All hope of help from that quar-
ter was gone.
But all these considerations were
eclipsed by the thought of how near
he had been to success, and how tar
he had flung success away by his
weakness.
The paper had been in his hands !;
It was there for the taking. Had he
only waited But sure of being able
TO see the woman he loved and to re-
turn before the due had finished his
work with Raffe, he had gone off and
left Fortune unattended. Fortune does
not take insults like these without re-
senting them.
So he argued, utterly unknowing
himself. or the fact that the handspring
of the motive that had driven him to
Paris was less Mime. Linden than the
deep unrest, the nerve strain that made
movement imperative; made it abso-
lutely necessary that he should leave
the house Of De Richelieu, where, for
the time being nothing could be done.
Then. with an effort. he shook off
this paralysis of mind which had seized
him. and glanced through the window
OF the coach.
They were in the Rue St HOnore
passing eastward, that is to say. in the
direction Of the Rue ST. Antoine and
, the Bastilc The carriage, leaving the
Rue St Honore. passed down street
parallel TO the Rue deS HalleS, enter
ed the Rue St Antoine. and pursued
its eastward course. De LuSSaC, though
burning with the question that was in
his mind, remained dumb. He was
afraid to ask their destination lest his
voice should bctray his emotion. That
the BastiIe would prove the end of
their journey he felt certain.
More certain still was he when they
passed the church of Petit ST. An
tome on the left. the Fontainc St.
Catherine and the Rue Bcautrellis. As
they passed the Hotel de Mayenne, De
Lussac pressing his iace to the win
dow and glancing upward, saw. cutting
the sky. tower gray with age, and
touched by the last rays OF the setting
sun. 1t was the northernmost tower
OF La BaStilc.
Half minute later the carriage
stopped, and De LuSsac heard the voice
OF the coachman answering the chal-
lenge Of the sentry. They had reached
the drawbridge giving entrance to the
courtyard of the fortress.
Where the Rue St. Anotine met the
outer engirdling wall of the Bastie it
narrowed. skirted the wall and gave
exit from Paris by the Port St. An
tome. an arch gateway with three gates
opening on the Rue de la Contrescarpe.
Immense, gloomy. gray, facing the
west with four towers, facing the east
with four towers. fronting Paris like
an eternal menace, backed by the Fosse
dc L'Arsenal. the Rue de Ia Contres-
carpc the woodyards and fields leading
to the Hotel des Mousquetaires NoirS.
the fortress of the Bastile stood, al
once a stronghold and a symbol.
La Force was as gloomy, Nincennes
as strong In the ancient chatelet men
had been far more barbarously used
than in the Bastile That may be, but
the Bastile it was that rode the imagi-
nation OF the people; on the burning
July day when the fever of the revolu-
tion rose to a crisis it was the Bas-
tile that the people attacked. 1t was
the concretion in stone of all the evil
OF all the Kings of France, and their