and Derval's watch and purse; and, throwing off his coat, vaulted over the parapet-rail, as Ledbury started to arouse the gatekeeper. Clinging to the light iron work which forms the body of the bridge, and which everywhere afforded a firm hold to his muscular grasp, he slung himself, with fearful haste, from one beam to another; now swinging from the transverse ties, and now gliding down the uprights, until he reached the stonework from which they spring. The stream was still several feet below him; but, nothing daunted, he threw himself into the river at once, casting aside all idea of danger in the excitement of the instant. The cold, dark water closed over his head, and roared and bubbled in his ears, as he sank some feet below the surface; but, re-appearing immediately, he struck out towards the spot where he expected to find the victim. The stream was, however, too powerful to make any way against it. He perceived this in an instant; and turning towards one of the piers, he was enabled, after much exertion, to cling to an iron boat-ring, which was fixed into the stonework, fortunately within his grasp; and he had barely accomplished this feat, when the individual he was endeavouring to preserve was borne through the arch, still throwing his arms about, vaguely, in the agonies of a drowning

man.

With an additional impetus, obtained by springing from the pier, Johnson immediately dashed through the current, and was at the side of the sufferer. A position of intense peril ensued. The dying man-for such he really was-made a desperate clutch at Johnson's arm as he approached him; and, succeeding in the attempt, in an instant they both sank. It was but a moment; for they rose again almost directly, the hold of the other still remaining the same.

Leave go my arm!' gasped Johnson,-' leave go my arm-we are both lost if

But the grasp of the sufferer tightened; and, in addition, he attempted to throw his leg round Johnson's, in which he would have succeeded, had not the other, with the tact of an expert swimmer, turned upon his side as far as the embrace of the other would permit, and thus prevented the lock which would have been inevitably fatal to both. Again he endeavoured to cast him off, but to no purpose, and again they sank deeply into the roaring water. At last, as they rose once more to the surface, Johnson collected all his force for one effort, and contrived to shake the other off: at the same minute that he dived under him, and came up in his wake. Seizing him by his long hair, he was enabled to keep him away; and, whilst he supported his head above water, they turned towards the bank.

In the mean time Ledbury had aroused the man at the toll-gate of the bridge. The sentinel at the Louvre had also followed up the shot of the soldier beneath the statue on the Pont Neuf; and the roll of drums in the Carrousel showed that the alarm had spread. And now the bright muskets of the garde municipale were gleaming upon the Quai de l'Ecole, and some on the other side of the river had reached the Pont des Arts; whilst others, directed by Ledbury's gestures rather than his words, hastened down the stairs, and along the edge of the river, with the intention of affording Johnson what assistance they could offer. Returning over the bridge, and taking up his friend's hat and its contents, Ledbury followed the

soldiers who were at the side of the stream, and got up to them just as Johnson brought his charge to land. But human aid was now of no avail. A gush of bright arterial blood was pouring from a wound in the chest of the victim; and Johnson's dress wet and disordered, bore traces of the same florid stream. And the courageous fellow himself sank down from pure exhaustion as he reached the bank.

The aların had run like wildfire; and, from all the principal streets leading to the quais, parties of the municipal guard were now hastening, in the direction of the spot where Ledbury and his companions stood.

They have secured the assassin, messieurs,' observed a gendarme, who now joined the party. He was disabled by a shot from the factionnaire on the Pont Neuf.'

And who is it?' asked several voices eagerly.

A porter of the Marché des Innocens. the deceased from that neighbourhood."

He must have watched

In a minute or two Johnson recovered his breath; and motioning the guard one side, that the moonlight might not be intercepted, he parted the long wet hair from the face of the murdered man, and looked upon his features. A cry of surprise and horror broke from him as he recognized the countenance of Derval!

CHAPTER IX,

The Bal Masqué and the Guillotine.

IT is the custom in certain melodramas, when any events occur which, although imperatively necessary to the elaboration of the plot, would weary the spectators by their actual representation, to inform the audience through the medium of the play-bill that a lapse of five years is supposed to take place between Act I, and II.' And, furthermore, it is the habitude of the management, in order that a slight semblance of reality may be given to the supposition, to keep the aforesaid audience waiting as long as the patience of the house generally, and the pit and gallery especially, will permit. Now the first of these arrangements for the second has merely been mentioned parenthetically, as bearing upon the subject, but having nothing in the world to do with our own case-is a salutary one; for it saves an immense deal of yawning, and obtrusive attempts to extend cramped legs. And so, in like manner, we beg our considerate reader to imagine that five weeks have elapsed since the events of the last chapter.

Little has occurred in this time to interest or amuse. The recollection of the murder hung upon the minds of our friends for some time, and they felt little inclination to join in any gaiety,—indeed Ledbury was very anxious to return home again. The autumn was giving place to winter; and the trial of the man concerned in Derval's assassination had taken place, ending in his condemnation to the last punishment the law can order.

It is exceedingly fortunate for us," observed Johnson to Ledbury, as they left the court at the close of the trial, "that the murderer was taken in the fact, or it would have placed us in an unpleasant situation, to say the least of it. We left together that night

we were seen with poor Derval in the wine shop; and I had his watch and purse in my possession. People have been hung before now where the chain of circumstantial evidence was much slighter.'

No appeal had been made by the criminal to the Court of Cassation against the sentence of the Cour d'Assise, and the sensation gradually subsided as time passed on. And even Ledbury and Johnson thought less about it, and began to join the students, as formerly, in their amusements; the former of our tourists looking forward with some excitement to a masked ball which was advertised to take place, par extraordinaire, at the Pantheon Theatre, the playhouse which, with the Luxembourg rendezvous for the admirers of the very minor drama ( chez Bobinot,') forms the chief resort of the students and grisettes inhabiting the Quartier Latin.

As soon as the day was announced, Mr. Ledbury's inquietude respecting what sort of a dress he should appear in gradually rose to a degree the most unsettled and perplexing. Aimée, who, of course, was to form one of the party, had long ago made up her mind to go as a débardeur, such being the proper and appointed costume for grisettes under such circumstances; Johnson had also determined to accompany her as a postillion; so that Ledbury was the only undecided one of the trio as to his character, and, in company with the others, he routed over the stores of every magazin des costumes within a radius of one mile from the heart of the Quartier Latin.

'Here's a magnificent moyen age dress,' said Jack Johnson, as they stood inspecting the gay contents of a wardrobe in the Rue de Seine, 'Look at it "a page of the thirteenth century." You would look very great in that.'

But Mr. Ledbury had not a pleasant idea of his own appearance in feathers, flesh-coloured tights, and spectacles; and so he turned over the page for another.

I think I should like to go as a Chinese,' he meekly observed. 'Pshaw!' replied Jack, what can you do as a Chinese? You couldn't galoppe in that spangled bed-furniture. You had better choose a débardeur, after all. It's a good dress,-cheap and stylish, as they say of a ten-shilling Taglioni.'

And so Mr. Ledbury, acting upon his friend's advice, and moreover assured that he would create a great sensation, agreed to go as a débardeur.

The dresses were sent home on the morning of the day, and Mr. Ledbury amused himself until evening by comparing them one with another, and disputing which was the most becoming, which dispute ultimately ended in his deciding that his own was. Although the performances at the theatre did not conclude until a late hour, and the ball was not to commence until twelve, yet our friends were dressed and all ready by half-past eight,-Aimée having been politely accommodated with a dressing-room by a young repasseuse in one of the mansardes over their chamber. And when their toilets were all finished, and they sat down to coffee in Ledbury's room, there were certainly not three lighter hearts in all Paris,-perhaps not in all the world. Aimée appeared to have derived additional attraction from her piquant costume. Jack Johnson was rollicking about, and singing snatches of twenty different songs as he rode steeple-chases on the chairs, to the great dislocation of their joints,

and the bewilderment of the lodgers underneath, or occasionally, in the joyousness of his heart, threw his wig at Ledbury, covering him with a cloud of powder. And Mr. Ledbury himself, not yet exactly understanding where he was in his new attire, but withal immensely pleased with it, was only wishing that some of the young ladies he had met at parties in London could see him now: wouldn't they be glad to dance with him-that was all!-and how all the other young men at Islington would sink into insignificance by his side.

. Precisely at midnight they started for the ball. They had but a few yards to go from their door, and it was a fine night, so they walked in their dresses very quietly down the street to the theatre,—a proceeding which did not create any curiosity in the Quartier Latin. There was a great crowd of visitors at the doors; but, as only the ladies wore masks, they recognized several of their friends, including Jules and Henri, who came out uncommonly gay as two hussars. And although the salle is small, yet, when Mr. Ledbury was fairly in the theatre, the lights, the music, the dresses, and, above all, the lively and happy crowd around him, formed in their ensemble such a very enchanting scene, that he began to think the accounts of the festivities in the Arabian Nights were not the enormous lies he had always considered them to be.

Gar' les jambes!' cried a man, running along the room, holding a tin can of water with a hole in it, with which he appeared to be flourishing hieroglyphics on the floor.

What's he doing, Jack?' asked Ledbury.

'Aux places! messieurs et dames, s'il vous plait !' exclaimed the master of the ceremonies, causing a sensation which precluded an answer to the inquiry.

Un vis-à-vis!' shouted twenty voices at once.

'Go and ask that little girl in the lancer's dress to dance,' said Johnson to Ledbury.

'But she don't know me, Jack,' was the reply. 'Shouldn't I be introduced?'

Fiddlesticks!' returned Johnson; 'go and ask her, I tell you, and then come and stand opposite to me.'

Mr. Ledbury mustered up courage, and contrived to make himself understood. He returned with the grisette, and placed himself opposite to Johnson; the band played a few bars of the opening quadrille, and the various sets fell into their places.

The dance proceeded, enlivened in the orchestral department by the glorious cornet-à piston; and after the last figure such a galoppe took place, that Ledbury soon saw the use of the man with the waterpot in laying the dust. He was not very successful at the galoppe; but his partner was, so that it was of no great consequence. She bounded off with him the instant the air began; and, what with running very fast, leaping, sliding, and taking terrific strides, he was enabled to keep up with her. To be sure, he tumbled down now and then, and got run over by twenty couple or so; but this was of no importance, for everybody was too much absorbed in their own whirl to look after anybody else; especially Jack Johnson and Aimée, who appeared to have taken an entire leave of their senses. And what a stirring chase it was! Down the declivity of the stage as hard as they could tear, to the boarded pit, and then flying wildly round

It was

underneath the boxes, and up again to the back of the theatre. indeed a galoppe d'enfer, as Aimée called it, especially to the inspiring Postillon,' with the accompaniment of the crack of the whip, and jangling of the diligence bells. Then came the Danois galoppe, and the Fille du Danube, and the galoppe from Alma, and a dozen others equally spirited; and waltzes by Labitsky, Lanner, and Strauss without end; until the very hours took it into their heads to galoppe too, and the night passed away long before Ledbury, Johnson, or Aimée perceived or wished it.

At the close of one of the dances, Mr. Ledbury was sitting down by his partner, endeavouring to wash down some of the dust with which they were choked, with limonade gazeuse, when Johnson came up to him, apparently rather excited, and said,

I have just heard something worth knowing. The gendarme you see keeping order at the corner of the stage was at the river the night Derval was murdered. He has recognized you and me.'

Well, what then?' asked Ledbury in great fear, imagining that they were both to be immediately guillotined, in consequence, on the spot.

He says that the assassin is to be executed this morning. It is not generally known yet; but if we like, as we were concerned in the affair, he can take us into the prison. Will you go?'

'I do not think I should like to see it, Jack,' replied Ledbury. 'Nonsense, man! you need not see the execution. Come along: we must get these things off, and meet the gendarme outside the theatre in twenty minutes. It is now nearly six.'

Half entreated, half persuaded into going, our friends left the house, and, hurriedly changing their things, returned to the theatre, where the officer was waiting for them. There were several cabs and coaches for hire at the doors; getting into a citadine, therefore, they drove immediately to the prison-a sudden and impressive contrast to the scene of revelry which they had just quitted!

On arriving at the prison, they remained at the door a short time, whilst the gendarme entered to obtain permission to bring them in. He returned almost directly; and, motioning them to follow him, at the same time that he ordered the vehicle to wait, led the way through many passages, gloomy in the dull light of morning, to the prison parlour. Several people were here assembled, and in the centre of them stood the criminal. Johnson directly recognized him and pointed him out to Ledbury, who, perfectly overcome with terror, scarcely dared to breathe. A venerable abbé was at his side offering him the last consolation of religion, which the condemned man appeared to receive with respect and even gratitude. He took off a heavy gold ring, such as the gipsies wear, and gave it to the priest, requesting it might be forwarded to some female whose name he mentioned.

'She will know shortly,' he said, ' that she need not call to see me to-morrow.'

Ledbury thought it strange that there should be a female who could care for this blood-stained, fearful man.

The persons whose duty it is to attend the culprit now came into the room, and having removed some of his upper garments, and laid bare his neck, proceeded to cut off his hair. As the coarse, dark