"She was born of the people," said de Vaudrey proudly, yet tenderly. "She is an orphan and lives by the labor of her hands." The Countess, who had never for a moment imagined such an answer to her question, was surprised, and she showed plainly that grief was mingled with her surprise. "And you would make such a woman your wife?" she asked reproachfully. "Do not judge her until you have seen her," entreated the Chevalier. "Consent to see her, and then advise me." The young man took the Countess's hands in his, and looked imploringly into her face. But his Aunt turned away from him with a gesture of sorrow. "In such a marriage," she said sadly, "there can be no happiness for you, and for her, only misery. Alas! I know too well the result of those unequal unions. You must renounce her. You owe obedience to your family and your King." She burst into a flood of tears. Diffidently the young man sought to comfort the Countess whose emotion seemed to have its spring in some hidden sorrow. He promised at last for her sake to consider again the horribly odious proposal of a State marriage, and drying her tears as well as he could, went his way, a victim of torn desires and intensest anguish.... CHAPTER IX FRIENDS OF THE PEOPLE The giant stranger who had talked to Henriette and made friends with de Vaudrey was Jacques Danton. He and his colleague, Maximilien Robespierre, were destined to be the outstanding figures of the French Revolution. It is worth while to stop here for a little and consider these two men in their historical aspects and for the profound influence which they exerted on the lives of our characters. As the storm clouds blacken the sky and the sullen sea (not yet lashed to fury) is ridged in deep, advancing breakers, the mariner's eye discerns these stormy petrels flying about or momentarily perched on the masts of the Ship of State. Mark them well--Danton and Robespierre: today, merely "esurient advocates," petty men of law come up from the provinces to win their fortunes in Paris; tomorrow, leaders of faction; some months or years later, the rulers of France! [Illustration: PIERRE BECOMES THE DEVOTED WORSHIPPER OF LOUISE WHOM HE HAS SAVED FROM THE RIVER] Danton--"the huge, brawny figure, through whose black brows and rude flattened face there looks a waste energy as of Hercules not yet furibund." Robespierre--aptly described as the meanest man of the Tiers Estat: "that anxious, slight, ineffectual-looking man, under thirty, in spectacles; his eyes, troubled, careful; with upturned face, snuffing dimly the uncertain future-time; complexion of a multiplex atrabiliar color, the final shade of which may be the pale sea-green!"