We need scarcely say the grief and agony of the bereaved wife was terrible; but, before she could rouse herself from her distraction, and fly into other lands with her children, the revolution which had broken out presented a barrier to flight. The cottage Mrs. Arden inhabited was upon the estate of the Duke de Coulancourt, a nobleman of considerable wealth, high birth, and a confirmed friend of the unfortunate king; he was at this time in his forty-eighth year, and unmarried. The persecution of Collet D’Herbois, who headed a violent party in Lyons, drove Mrs. Arden to seek the protection of her landlord, the duke. The aristocracy were not yet overthrown, though they still possessed only a shadow of power. The duke imprisoned D’Herbois, and, struck by the beauty and grace of the fair widow, for the first time felt the influence of female beauty, and after a lapse of eighteen months, Mrs. Arden became Duchess de Coulancourt. Three years after her first husband’s death she accompanied the duke to an estate in Normandy, from whence his title was derived. The unfortunate king was then in the last stage of his miserable greatness. The Duke de Coulancourt, who adored his wife, and who was the kindest of fathers to her children, executed a deed constituting her his sole heiress. He then, as affairs were getting in a terrible state in the capital, implored her to take refuge in his château near Lyons, where the Royalists existed in force, promising he would follow after one more effort to serve his royal master; and should he fail, they would fly to Italy or to England. Alas! like many another noble and devoted heart, his head was placed beneath the axe of the guillotine—his last thoughts being his God and his beloved wife. We are already aware of the persecutions the duchess a second time endured from Collet D’Herbois, raised into power by the revolution, and destined to become one of its ministers. There was, however, another enemy—Monsieur de Montaut—the duchess had to fear, though she knew it not. This enemy, however, had no wish to bring her head beneath the guillotine; for, the duke having executed a deed bequeathing his estates and property to his wife, this Monsieur de Montaut would, as the duke’s cousin, upon her death, succeed to the property. As to the title, he cared not about it; he was a rank revolutionist, and titles were extinct; but he knew that if the duchess were beheaded by order of the Government, the estates would go to the nation. His object, therefore, was to secure the person of the duchess, and, if he could not force her to marry him, he would, at all events, frighten her into executing a deed in his favour. Afterwards, as he possessed considerable power, he intended to connive at her escape to England, his party being at that time in the ascendancy.