"Open the gates! open the gates!" cried the rioters.
"Will your highness be pleased to send some one to release your prisoners?" asked the captain of the guardsmen.
"I shall be there myself, in a moment," was the reply.
"You!" exclaimed the countess. "Would you expose yourself to the vengeance of the populace, Eugene?"
"They will not molest me. Barbesieur Louvois has reached the gates, and I must greet him ere he goes.—Come, Latour and Darmont, and show me the way by the private staircase. The rest of you keep your posts and be watchful, for the struggle may be renewed, and it is just possible that I may have to order you to fire.—And now shall I conduct my mother to her boudoir?"
"No, my son, I remain here to observe what passes below, nor will I retire until I shall have seen the ending of this curious spectacle."
Eugene bowed and withdrew. "Go before, Latour," said he. "I am unacquainted with the private inlets and outlets of the palace."
Latour obeyed, saying to himself: "They may well make a priest of this virtuous youth, who knows nothing of the secret windings of his own hotel. His father and his brother were wiser than he; and many a night have they gone in and out on visits of gallantry, when they were young enough to be as squeamish as he, or old enough to have reformed their ways."
"Give me the keys," said Eugene, as they emerged from the side- entrance. "I will unlock the gates, and when I cry 'Halt!' do you seize upon a man whom I shall point out to you as he attempts to force the passage in advance of his confederates."
"Let us alone for holding him fast, your highness."