always nearing the door, Suleau three times freed himself. He reached the door at last, but he was obliged to turn, in order to open it, and was thus exposed to his assassins for a defenceless instant. That instant afforded enough time for twenty sabres to stab him. He fell at Théroigne's feet, who had the cruel joy of giving him a last wound.

While Suleau was struggling with his murderers, a third prisoner managed to escape.

The fifth man, who was dragged out of the guardhouse by the miscreants, roused a cry of admiration in the crowd. He had belonged to the old bodyguard. His name was Vigier, and he had been known as Handsome Vigier. Being as brave as he was handsome, and as adroit as he was brave, Vigier fought fifteen minutes. Thrice he fell and thrice he recovered himself. Every pavement in that courtyard was tinged, not only with his own blood, but with that of his murderers. like Suleau, he was overcome by numbers.

At last,

The death of the others was simple slaughter. Their names are unknown. The nine corpses were dragged to the Square Vendôme, where they were beheaded. Their heads were stuck on pikes, and paraded throughout Paris.

Poor Suleau had been two months married to a charming woman, Adèle Hal, the daughter of a celebrated painter.

That evening one of Suleau's servants obtained his master's head by paying its price in gold, and subsequently succeeded, after long search, in recovering his body. Suleau's devoted wife had been for a month in the expectation of maternity, and it was she who demanded his precious remains, in order to bestow upon them the last sad rites.

Before the general struggle really began, therefore, blood had flowed in two places, on the steps of the City Hall and at the Feuillant Guardhouse. Presently we shall see it flowing at the Tuileries. After the drops, the rivulet; after the rivulet, the river!

Just as these murders were committed, that is, between eight and nine in the morning, ten or eleven thousand National Guards, called together by Barbaroux's alarm-bell, and by Santerre's general drumbeat, came through the Rue Saint Antoine, entered the Arcade Saint Jean, so well guarded the night preceding, and entered the Place de Grève.

Those men came to ask for an order to march on the Tuileries. They had to wait an hour.

Two rumors as to the cause of this delay were circulated among the crowd. One was to the effect that the newly organized Commune hoped for concessions from the palace. The other rumor was that the Saint Marceau District was not quite ready, and it was desirable not to march without the Saint Marceau quota.

The thousand men who were armed only with pikes became very impatient. As usual, the worse armed men were the most zealous. They broke through the ranks of the National Guards, declaring they would go ahead, and sack the palace all alone.

Several confederated Marsillians and ten or a dozen French Guardsmen the same guardsmen who, two or three years before, had helped to capture the Bastille

- put themselves at the head of this rabble, and were hailed as its chiefs by common consent. This was the vanguard of the insurrection.

Meanwhile his aide, who had seen Mandat's assassination, rode at full speed to the Tuileries; but it was not till the King and Queen had returned to their respective

apartments, after his Majesty's ill-starred visit to the royal courtyards, that the aide was able to see them and report his gloomy news.

The Queen felt as one always feels, at the announcement of the death of a man who has left one's side an instant before; she could not believe it. She made the aide describe the scene once and again, with all its harrowing details.

Meanwhile the noise of a brawl made itself heard on the main floor, and came in through the windows.

The gendarmes, the National Guards, and the patriotic cannoneers those who had raised the shout for the

provoke the Royalists, by calling them Royal Grenadiers, and declaring that there were, among the grenadiers from the sections of Saint Thomas and Buttes des Moulins, men who had been sold to the Court.

As they were still ignorant, in the courtyards and basement, of the death of their commanding-general, though this was already known on the main floor, a grenadier shouted: "That low-lived Mandat has sent nobody to the palace but aristocrats."

Mandat's older son was in the ranks of the National Guards. We already know the whereabouts of Mandat's younger son, who tried in vain to defend his father on the steps of the City Hall.

At this insult to his absent father, the elder brother rushed from the ranks with his sabre drawn. Two or three cannoneers threw themselves in front of him.

Weber, the Queen's chamberlain, was there, among the Saint Roch Grenadiers. He flew to the youth's assistance.

The sabres clashed. A quarrel was imminent between the two parties. The Queen was attracted to

the window by the noise, and saw Weber. She called Thierry, the King's valet, and ordered him to go after her foster-brother.

Weber came up, and told the Queen all about the fracas. In return, she announced to him Mandat's death.

The noise under the window increased.

is going on now!" said the Queen.

"See what

"What is happening, Madame?" said Weber. "The cannoneers are abandoning their guns.

They have rammed home a ball in each, and as the cannon are not loaded with powder, they are now useless."

"What thinkest thou of the situation, my good Weber?"

"I think," replied the worthy Austrian, "that your Majesty had better consult Monsieur Roederer, who appears to me one of the most devoted men in the palace."

"Yes, but where can I speak to him without being overheard, watched, interrupted?"

"In my room, if the Queen wishes," said Thierry. "So be it!" said the Queen. Turning to her fosterbrother she added: "Find Monsieur Roederer, and bring him to Thierry's room."

As Weber went out by one door, the Queen followed Thierry by the other. Nine o'clock rung from the palace clock.

CHAPTER XIV.

FROM NINE O'CLOCK TILL ELEVEN IN THE FORENOON.

WHEN one touches such an important point in history as we have now reached, not a single detail should be omitted; for these details are linked one to another, and their accurate adjustment constitutes the length and breadth of the picture on the canvas, which the hands of the Past unroll for the eyes of the Future.

At the very moment when Weber announced to the Queen the entrance of the Syndic of the Commune, the Swiss Captain Durler was on his way up to the King's rooms, to ask either the King or the Major General for the last orders.

Charny saw the worthy captain looking for an usher or chamberlain to introduce him, and asked: "What do you wish for ?"

"Aren't you the Major General ?" said Durler.

"Yes."

"I have come for final orders, Monsieur, as the head of the insurrectionary column is just visible from the Carrousel Courtyard."

"You have been ordered to stand your ground, Monsieur, for the King is determined to die in our midst."

"All right, Monsieur Major," simply responded Durler; and he returned to his companions with this order, which was their death-warrant.

As Captain Durler had said, the insurrectionary vanguard was coming into sight. It consisted of a thousand