Saved: A Tale Of The French Revolution.

And as they sat there , in deepest sorrow , footsteps wore heard ascending- tbe stairs . A loud knock came at the door . " Entrez , " said the Vicomte firmly , ancl three or four armed and ill-looking men , with tricolour cockades , ivalked into the room , and the leader said "Monsieur lo Viseomte , jo A ous arrete en nom cle la Commune . " Dreadful words then , dread fill AVOI-CIS since ! Illomenedmost ill-omenedto every Frenchman ! And so it wasthat despite

, , , the despairing daughter , the tearful eyes of bis two male associates , the poor Vicomte , calm and tranquil as he wns , ivns taken aivay one fine May afternoon to the the dreadful "Abbaye . " What could be be done ? To ( bat poor family the outlook was alike hopeless , helpless , and like as to many of all ranks in Prance ; nothing seemed loft but calm resignation and eonrageousiiess . Bnt so it Avas not to be , in the good providence ot' T . G . A . O . T . U ., and that is why

I tell tbe story in Bro . Kenning ' s well-known magazine . The Vicomte Avas a Freemason , and had taken , in happier clays , a loadingpart in Parisian ancl Provincial Masonry . Like others , perhaps , he was in advance of his time , and had found good and happiness in that remarkable society whose first principles were neither revolutionary nor destructive , but exhibited everywhere and on all occasions tbe truest " outcome " of toleration

, benevolence , fraternal interest , ancl goodwill . When he Avas admitted to tbe Abbaye , be saw among tbe municipal officers one whom he hacl well known in his lodge , " Les Philanthropes Renin ' s , " as " Frere Delapierre . " In a moment ( ns in a flash ) came ancl was ansAvered a sign of recognition , and the Vicomte took heart on knowing he bad one true friend ancl brother there who would not desert him . Then came the dreadful tribunaltho

, parody of a trial , the iniquitous sentence , and early in tbe morning Sanson came Avith bis " aides " to take on tbe cars the condemned to the guillotine . The names are read out , sixteeen , but no name of Vicomte cle Castaignac . His friend tbe municipal Avas there with a smiling face , but he said nothing , and the lugubrious coi-fce . o'e passed away without our gallant friend .

All this time let us try and realize the condition and fears of that mourning family in the little upper room . During tho day it ivas clear that a great disturbance Avas going on in Paris . The " rappel " Avas beaten ; constant discharges of musketry , as well as even cannon , seemed to say that an internecine war of some kind was being waged in tbe streets of Paris , and in the evening tbe fall of Robespierre was announced . Tbe " Reign of Terror" was practically at an end .

Earl y in tbe morning kind Bro . Delapierre brought Bro . Castaignac bis order for release , and soon after the happy Vicomte was folded in the arms of his rejoicing and all but heartbroken family . Years afterwards , ivlien they Avere all assembled in peace in tbe Vicomte ' s recovered "Hotel Castaignac " in Paris , General and Mme . De la Roche and their children , and Ernest and bis wife ( nee Cahusac ) and children were

gathered round tbe " old hearth stone , " one of tbe greatest friends of tbe family ivas that same Bro . Delapierre who , then high in civil service , bad shewn that even in tho darkest hours of tbe insanity and wickedness of tbe French Revolution be bad never forgotten , and wns not ashamed to own , that be was a " Freemason , " a friend in need , a brother "bom for adversity , " who practised what be professed in iodge , and rejoiced to exemplify the healing , and salutary , and gracious and ennobling principles of true Freemasonry .