those in the rear. At each of the large towns before mentioned, we were all

to assemble; and a conclave of the principal officers would hold council

for the general weal. I went first, as I said; Adrian last. His mother,

with Clara and Evelyn under her protection, remained also with him. Thus

our order being determined, I departed. My plan was to go at first no

further than Fontainebleau, where in a few days I should be joined by

Adrian, before I took flight again further eastward.

My friend accompanied me a few miles from Versailles. He was sad; and, in a

tone of unaccustomed despondency, uttered a prayer for our speedy arrival

among the Alps, accompanied with an expression of vain regret that we were

not already there. "In that case," I observed, "we can quicken our march;

why adhere to a plan whose dilatory proceeding you already disapprove?"

"Nay," replied he, "it is too late now. A month ago, and we were masters of

ourselves; now,--" he turned his face from me; though gathering twilight

had already veiled its expression, he turned it yet more away, as he added

--"a man died of the plague last night!"

He spoke in a smothered voice, then suddenly clasping his hands, he

exclaimed, "Swiftly, most swiftly advances the last hour for us all; as the

stars vanish before the sun, so will his near approach destroy us. I have

done my best; with grasping hands and impotent strength, I have hung on the

wheel of the chariot of plague; but she drags me along with it, while, like

Juggernaut, she proceeds crushing out the being of all who strew the high

road of life. Would that it were over--would that her procession

520

The Last Man