"Ah, the sacrifice you demand is too much to ask of any human creature! God does not require it of us. If after creating us for each other it is His will that we should live forever apart and be eternally miserable, why has He united us to-night? Is not our meeting providential? Dolores, your decision cannot be irrevocable." It required all her courage and determination to repress the loving words that rose to her lips from her overflowing heart. "Come, Philip," she pleaded, striving to give a maternal tone to her voice. "But promise me----" "Ah well! to-morrow,----" she said, quietly, doing her best to calm him. She succeeded. Philip rose, ready to follow her. She had already taken a candle from the table when footsteps were heard in the adjoining room. "Good Heavens! it is Vauquelas! We are lost!" "He will not enter here, perhaps," whispered Philip. With a gesture, Dolores imposed silence: then she waited and listened, hoping that Vauquelas would pass on to his own room without pausing. Her hopes were not realized. Vauquelas rapped twice at the door. "May I come in, Citoyenne Dolores?" "No, I am in bed." "Get up quickly then, and open the door. A man was seen to leap over the wall that separates the garden from the street. He must be prowling about the house. They are in pursuit of him. The police are coming." "I am getting up," replied Dolores, anxious to gain time, and racking her brain to discover some means of escape for Philip. "The night is very dark," he whispered. "I will go into the garden and conceal myself there until the soldiers have searched the house and gone." Dolores nodded her approval, and went on tip-toe to the glass door to open it and let Philip out. She turned the knob, softly opened the door, and stepped aside to let him pass. The next instant she uttered a cry of dismay, for she saw five members of the National Guard approaching the house, beating the shrubbery that bordered the path through which they were advancing with the butt ends of their muskets. She recoiled in horror, for before she could prevent it Philip stepped out and stood for an instant plainly visible in the light that streamed through the open door ere he perceived them. As soon as they saw him, they raised their guns and took aim. "Do not fire!" he exclaimed. "I surrender!" And he paused, awaiting their approach. At the same moment Vauquelas entered the room by the other door. Dolores cast a despairing look at Philip, then involuntarily stepped to his side as if to protect him. There was a moment's silence caused by surprise on the one side and terror on the other. Philip was filled with consternation not that his courage failed him, but because he was appalled by the thought of the danger in which he had involved Dolores.