“After discussing this matter it was decided that Antoine go out, and obtain, if possible, a uniform like that worn by the soldiers of the republic. Disguised in this, the Marquis would depart in the night, and await in a forest not far from the city, there to be joined by the servant with the child, and to proceed thence toward the mountains and the country of the Swiss, where there were relatives and friends who had quitted France upon the fall of the king. “Scarcely had Antoine set forth upon that errand when two _gens d’armes_ appeared. They had come to arrest the Marquis. To be arrested, that was the cell, the mock trial. After these—the scaffold. Had they come in the name of law and order he would have resigned himself to that fate. They came in the name of disorder and opposition to law. _Bien!_ Disabled as he was, rising, he drew his sword. They supposed to overpower him. Sword met sword. The hunted stag brought to bay is dangerous. One of those intruders was slain. The other, wounded, fled. Soon he would return with assistance; accompanied, perhaps, by the mob. No time was to be lost. “Seizing his little daughter, who had been a terrified witness of that scene, the Marquis hastened away, along a low passage leading to the stairs. A ray of the moon lighted an apartment as he passed. He saw through the open door heaps of rags. The ragman lay sleeping in their midst. Near by were his tattered coat, his wooden shoes, his greasy cap, his basket. The basket was furnished with a lid. One thinks rapidly on such occasions. The Marquis entered, arrayed himself in the coat, the cap, the shoes, forgetting not to leave some gold coins in their place, as compensation. The basket would contain the child. “‘Fear not, my little Gabrielle,’ he said, as he concealed her in it, ‘but remain quiet while I carry thee away where those terrible men cannot find us.’