William Thornton was considerably affected at witnessing the suffering the separation caused Mabel and the Duchess. He spoke some kind and assuring words to the little girl, and what he said appeared to abate her grief. Madame de Coulancourt then put a boy’s cloak over her shoulders, and a cap on her head, and then summoned Jean Plessis, who kept watch without. This faithful friend of the Duchess de Coulancourt was a tall and highly respectable-looking man, in years, scarcely forty, with a fine and expressive countenance. For several moments he conversed with our hero, respecting the place at which they were to meet that night; he described the inner and outward harbour accurately, and the best way for Lieutenant Cooke to steer on leaving the basin that night, and then covering the casket with a cloth cover, William Thornton took it under his care, remarking to himself that it was, for its size, uncommonly heavy. “I shall go on before you, monsieur,” said Jean Plessis, “till I bring you in sight of the dock gates. Should you by chance be questioned as to who the boy is with you, say your superior officer ordered you to take him with you, and that he is an English lad; they will not attempt to stop you.” Madame de Coulancourt was greatly agitated on parting. She embraced William Thornton as she would had he been her son, and, drawing a ring from her finger, begged him to keep it in remembrance of her. Our hero was greatly impressed; he was beginning very early, indeed, to be a protector to a young girl, scarcely three years his junior; but he felt proud of the confidence placed in him, and interested beyond measure. Taking the weeping and trembling Mabel by the hand, they passed out from the house, Jean Plessis going first to see that all was clear; then making a sign to William Thornton, they all three proceeded down the street. FOOTNOTES: [1] Fact. CHAPTER IV. It became very apparent to our hero, after traversing one or two streets, that there was some great commotion going on in other parts of the town, for the shouts and outcries from the distance were deafening. As yet they had passed but few persons, and those seemed all to be hurrying in one direction.