The Maids of Paradise

TRA

n directed her steps; I saw her bend close to the ear of a young girl who had already turned to look at me. At the same instant a heavily built, handso

companion of the morning had whisper

ith a gesture and a pleasant word, which I scarcely heard, so stupidly I stood, silenced by the absolute loveliness of the girl. Did I say loveliness? No, n

ed that she was badly sun-burned under the eyes, that her delicate nose was adorned by an adorabl

o meet her, and too

you have come to arrest us

eady knowing that she was the

your name? I am

rkey-girl, who proved, after all, to be the actress from the Odéon, Sylvia Elven; then I solemnly shook hands with Dr. Leo Delmont, Professor Claude Tavern

ce, "if this peaceful little community is come under your g

all say in these ti

' I do not mean Vive l'Empereur!

used-up eyes, asked me mildly if he might know why th

e in France?" asked Dr. D

eplied, "but its expression is s

when it is advisable to express one's t

ed, and wonderfully tolerant. Only those whose

Napoléon," observed Profes

, Napoleon the soul," sa

Victor Noir," suggest

e asked for justice and

teous to our guest, gentlemen,"

s a poor devil of the Imperial Police, if your creed really means peace and not violence, suffering and patience, not provocation and revolt, demonstrate

the Chevalier de Grey, a lank, hollow-eyed young fellow, already marked heavily with the

sart, "the Emperor could easily afford to regard with equanimity the mo

ss gave me a bew

peror does not know we have severed a

the fields to warn you of my coming? And why do you harbor John B

orward and pouring himself a glass of red wine. This

elle Elven, suddenly, "why does th

affair of the government and

"it is the affair of every honest man an

rstand you, do

lied. "We free people fear a family a

ld has long since judged

would not share their repast, and I thanked her an

that we move down to the lawn under the trees; so Dr. Delmont and Professor Tavernier lif

ople; that I showed it in my face is certain, for the Countess 38 looked up at me and said, s

ok my place among them and ate and drank with the

ant's dress, rested her pretty

it seems to me that the world is going to run over us some da

ss laughed

ust not attempt to box the world'

e; we have no servants, you see, and we all plough and harrow and sow and reap-not many acres, because we need little. It is one kind of life, quite harmles

moment; she turned and looked out acros

d. I owe much happiness to Dr. Delmont, who suggested that the estate, except what we needed, might be

e understand me, Monsieur Scarlett. I make 39 no mer

me, that you have give

rnment sending her into exile?"

f a party which abhors war, which refuses resistance, which aims, peacefully perhaps, at political and social

to Dr.

ders yonder, it is unsafe for the government to leave

ent fears treason?" demand

aid, "if y

ad turned to m

dy, asking nothing save freedom of thought? Is it treason for a woman of the world to renounce the world? Is it treason for her to live an u

-this young apostle of peace na?vely displaying her creden

ts us all," said Bazar

aned forward, her blu

itor? Because I know no country but the world, no speech but the universal speech that one reads in a br

h half-open arms; all the poetry

om to love as friends love, freedom to love as lovers love. Ah, more! freedom from caste, from hate and envy and all suspicion

her earnestness and had laid one sle

us? We who have set a watch on the world's outer ramparts, guarding

tive of France?"

e of the worl

care nothing for your own bir

rance is part of the world, so is this Prussia

ke love of country a trite virtue, but a passion, and set it in 41 our bodies along wit

mpathy for her own country. It seemed as though I could not endure to look at such a woman and know that

her chair, looking at me with those troubled gray e

and crush your own heart as you will, you cannot drive out that splendid ea

sieur Scarlett. If the government sends you here as a spy and an o

Countess, whose face had become expressionless. "I ask your

n the shoulder as prescribed by the code. And when I came to the Countess, she rose, without embarrassment. I mov

r a journey," I said. "You ha

away towards the stables; Professor

ill you be good enough to go to Trois-Feuilles and hire old Brauer's carriage?" Turning to me she said: "I must ask for a little delay; I

murder in his bright eyes. Doubtless, however, devotion to his creed of non-resistance conquered the imp

he terrace in her coquettish wooden shoes, lea

t seals to the doors of your house I must ask y

k at me and my spurred heels jingled in the silence. Up, up, and still up, winding around a Gothic spiral, then through a pas

ty of the stone facade. Slender, exquisite, she stood there, a lonely shape against the sky, and I saw the

tober grapes; the white arm of the semaphore on the Pigeonnier was tint

Mount Tonnerre. It was the mirror of a heliograph flashing out acros

and remained rigid; down came the signal flags, up went a red globe and two cones. Another string of fl

my sabre, and stepped out along the projecting snout of a gar

e, then another. My glasses brought out two officers, one with a flag; and, still watching them through the binoculars, I signalled slowly, using

ed, amusing myself by watching the ever-changing

w two officers advance to the railing of t

managed to use my field-glass

darmes goes to you as s

ame by flag: "Attention, La Trappe. Uhlans reported n

ear of our entire army! Nonsen

Have

ard. We are ordered to display the semaphore at da

between his teeth, jotting down our correspondence, while the other officer who had flagged

I could even see the younger officer light a match, which the wind extingui

the gargoyle, balanced over the gulf below. Very cautiously I

Pigeonnier, madame?" I asked, g

" she said. "It is a useles

me outward; I stumbled, staggered, and swayed a moment, striving desperately to recover my balance; I felt my gloved fingers slipping along the smooth face of the parapet, my knees gave way with horror; then my fingers cl

groaned, clutching her

aid, calmly. "Draw me toward

against the batt

ee and wedged i

e not hurting me," she s

then, drawn forward, I seized the parapet i

solid stone, while the blank, throbbing seconds past. The Countess stood there, sho

gged to her white neck; she twisted it up with unsteady fingers and turned away. I followed slowly, back through the

" I said. "My nerve is gone, madame. Th

e said: "High places always terrify me; something below seems to draw me.

g almost friendly in her gray eyes as she looked curiously

this woman whose home I had come to confiscate, whose friends I had ar

troubled eyes to the arched window, where a painted saint imbedde

our goodness to me have made my task a heavy

orsbronn before-before I cross the frontier? I have a h

of refusal in my face. "But, after all, it does

, ma

s a matter

s honor; a soldier's daugh

stand,"

e smiled and move

aths! One has a glimpse of kindly eyes-and never meets them again. Often and often I have seen a good face in the lamp-lit str

ach you to care for

hink that if people only knew that there was no such thing as

if all the world were

long for the freedom of all the world, absolute individual liber

tual impulse, at the he

h a man as John Buckhur

yes to me with p

do yo

ome here from Par

and laid the tips of her finger

here's no such thing

we want John Buckhurst," I said, wat

; her hands tightened on

harged with?" she a

ith being a comm

re, for the blood-stained neck and cheek, and even

her voice quivered. "It is not true! Monsieur, give me your word

d of honor that no political cri

swers satisfactorily to that false charge of

se programme is terror. He is well known in the faubourgs; Belleville is his, and in the Chateau Rouge he has pointed across the river to the rich quarters, calling it the promised land! Yet here, at La T

dilated eyes, hands holdin

ow that?" I ask

she

Buckhurst is the soul and c

s false!" s

e wears a smug mask here;

breathing rapid

answer for himself,

, mad

colored like mortar, dropping them to the stone floor, where they rang out. When she had flung away the last one, she stepped back and set her frail shoulder to the wall; inst