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46 becoming master of the occasion. "No: you shall come with me to Marseilles; and I will show you a very poor but a very safe refuge, where you may lie securely hid until your brother's fate is disclosed. Then we shall see."

"As well there as anywhere, if I must indeed hide."

"Let us set out at once, and on foot, since to bring horses from the stable would declare our intention."

"Very well." And François, absorbed in thought, set forth at so round a pace that the priest, less used to physical exertion, although well fitted for it, was more than once obliged to beg for consideration.

Two hours later the young men halted in a quiet street of Marseilles, before a small house largely devoted to a grocer's shop, bearing upon the door-posts the name of Jacques Despard.

"It is my father's house and shop, monsieur," said the abbé with quiet dignity, and led the way up a staircase built on the outside at the end, as was the fashion of that day, unlocked a door upon the landing, looked in, beckoned the baron to follow, and, unlocking a second door, ushered him into a small bedroom, sparsely but neatly furnished, and very tidy.

"There, Monsieur le Baron," said the abbé, closing the door, and drawing a long breath, "here you are safe, and welcome for as long as you choose to stay. This is my own room, always kept ready for my arrival by day or night, and never entered by any member of the household save my sister, who loves to keep it in order because she loves me. I will go now, and tell her that I have here a guest who desires to remain in