"Cannot I see him before that?" asked the young lady, terrified at the delay. "No! no! no!" roared the Porter, and turned to shut the wicket; but bethinking him for a moment, he called after Mademoiselle de Beaumont--"Who shall I tell him wants him, when I see him?" Pauline was unprepared with an answer, but the necessity of the moment made her reply, "His daughter;" trusting that, as there must be some understanding between him and De Blenau, the Woodman would conceive her errand, and not betray any surprise, whether he had a daughter or not. During this conversation, the _aubergiste_ had remained hard by, really compassionating Pauline's disappointment. "_Ma pauvre fille_," said he, as the wicket closed, "I am very sorry that they treat you so; but they are great brutes in these prisons. _Bon Dieu!_ you look very pale. Come in with me here to my little place, and take some soup, and rest yourself till the time comes round." Pauline thanked him for his offer, but declined it, of course; telling him, that she was going to the house of a friend who waited for her; and then taking leave of the good _aubergiste_, she left him interested in her sorrow, and enchanted by her sweet manner. "_La pauvrette!_" said he, as he turned him home, "_Elle a bien l'air d'une femme de qualité ça. Il y a quelque chose la dessous, ou je me trompe._" In the mean while, Pauline returned to the Church of St. Gervais, where she found Mademoiselle de Hauteford still on her knees in the Chapel of St. Denis. Pauline's recital of what had happened, called forth but few remarks from her companion, who only observed, that seven would be an unpleasant hour, for that by that time night began to fall. To Mademoiselle de Beaumont, however, night seemed more favourable to her enterprise than day, when the trepidation which she felt was visible to every passing eye; and she congratulated herself on the prospect of the darkness covering the agitation which might lead to suspicion if observed. I shall not follow the two ladies through the remaining part of the day. Suffice it, that Mademoiselle de Hauteford employed herself in preparations for the long journey which the Cardinal's sentence of banishment required her to take, and that Pauline's time passed in anxiety and apprehension, till the hour came for her once more to visit the Bastille. As soon as the long hand upon the dial pointed towards the Roman capitals IX. and the shorter one to VII. the two ladies set out in the same guise, and on the same route, as in the morning, with only this difference in their proceedings, that the old domestic of the Queen, who had accompanied them to Paris, received orders to follow at a few paces distance, well armed with sword and pistol.