The Scarlet Pimpernel

At the first announcement made by the stable boy, Lord Antony, with a fashionable oath, had jumped up from his seat

lakeney talking outside for a moment while the ladies withdraw. Zounds!

ing about from one leg to another, he ran hither and t

d erect, trying to hide her excitement beneath mor

ee her!-I wil

dant upon the arrival of very

"-was heard in one long, continued chorus, with alternate more feeble ton

rly sweet voice was hea

-and give him some s

ng-song in it, and a faint SOUPCON of foreign i

the bedrooms upstairs, and the Comtesse was in the act of beating a hasty retreat before that enemy who owned such a sweet musical voice; Suzanne reluctantly

to avert the catastrophe, which he felt was in the air, and the same

rring! DIEU! has anyone ever se

once-I wish it," said th

!" pleade

. . ." came in feeble accents from Jellyba

what are you standing in my way for, dancing about like a turkey wi

gently pushing mine host on one s

these really do her singular beauty justice. Tall, above the average, with magnificent presence and regal figure, it is small won

r-free at the moment from any powder; the sweet, almost childlike mouth, the straight chiselled nose, round chin, and delicate throat, all seemed set off by the picturesque costume of the period. The rich blue velvet robe moulded

had taken stock of every one there. She nodded pleasantly t

what are YOU doing here in

tesse and Suzanne. Her whole face lighted up with additional br

r there. PARDIEU, little citizeness, how

those who had helped to contribute to their downfall. Armand St. Just, the brother of beautiful Lady Blakeney-though known to hold moderate and conciliatory views-was an ardent republican; his feud with the ancient family of St. Cyr-the rights and wrongs of which no outsider ever knew-had culminated in the downfall, the almost total extinction of the latter. In France, St. Just an

ty, and stretched out her dainty hand to them, as if she would, by th

n," said the Comtesse, sternly, as she place

mmon innkeeper and his daughter. The latter literally gasped with horror at this foreign insolence, this impudence b

tuitous insult. One of them uttered an exclamation of appeal, the other one of warning, and instinctively b

still upon her daughter's arm, seemed the very personification of unbending pride. For the moment Marguerite's sweet face had become as white as the soft fich

sed slightly, the lips curved sarcastically upwards, the clear blue eyes loo

s," she said gaily, "wh

se, coldly, "and I am at liberty to forbid my daught

rguerite Blakeney, but with a deep, old-fashioned curtsey to

atue followed with hard, set eyes the upright figure, as it disappeared through the doorway-but as little Suzanne, humble and obedient, was about t

ial obedience vanished before girlish sympathy; at the door she turned, ran back to Marguerite, and putting her arms round

. Sir Andrew's eyes followed the pretty little figure, until it had qu

the ladies, as they disappeared through the door, then a h

ndrew, did you ever see such an unpleasant person

d assuming a majestic gait, s

the Comtesse's voice, "I forb

Sir Andrew nor Lord Tony were very keen observers. The mimicry was so perfect, the tone of t

miss you at the Comedie Francaise, and how the Pari

shoulders, "'tis impossible to hate Sir Percy for anything; hi

sse should Lady Blakeney aim any further shafts at her. But before he could utter a preliminary word of protest, a pleasant though dist