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Show 110 TilE l\IONTl!LY OFFERING. 11 You are going 111 sald Toussaint. "Yes, I looked in to-day, because I am about to leave the fortress for a few days." "If you see the First Consul, tell him what I have now said· and add 'that if like him, I bad u~ed my power for mys~lf, he would hav~ had a power over me which he has not now. I should not then have been here-( nay, you must hear me )-I should not then have been here, crushed beneath his hand; I should have been on the throne of St. Domingo-flattered, as he is, by assu.rances of my glory and security, but crushed by a heuv1er we1ght tha? that of his hand-by his image, as that of one bet~uyed. 10 my infidelity to his country and nation. Tell hun th1s ; tell him that I perish willingly, if this consequence of my fidel-ity to France may be a plea for justice to my race.·;, . " How people have misrepresented you to me . sa1d Rubaut, bustling about the cell, and opemng the door, to call Bellines. " They told me you were very silent-rarely spoke;' b' 1 " . l T "That ,,.as true \Yhen my duty was to t 10 <, saH ous· saint. " To-day my duty has been to. speak. Remember that yours in fidelity to your ruler, IS to repeat to h1m what I say." . "1\Jore wood, Bellines," said Ruba~t, go10g to t.he door to give further direction in a low votce. R~turmng, he said with some hurry of manner, that, as he was to be absent' for two or three days, he had sent for such a supply of wood and ftambaux as might last some t1me. 1\lore books should also be brought. . " When shall we meet again 1" nslced Toussamt. "I don't know. Indeed I do not know<: said th<; commandant, looking at his watch by the firehght. H1s pr~soner saw that his hands trembled, and that he walked w1th some irre~olution to the door. " Au revior !" said Toussaint. . Rub~ut did not reply, but went out, leavm~ the door standing wide, and apparenttly no one to gar~ It. . . Toussaint's heart beat at the thought th~t th1s m1g~t gtve him one more opportunity of being abroad m the dayhght- FRllE. 111 perhaps in the sun ? He rose to make the attempt; but he was exh~usted by the conversation he had held-the first for so long.! His aching limbs failed him, and he sank dow~t on h1s bed, from which he did not rise till long after BellJnes had laid down his load and left the place. . Th~ pmoner rose at length, to walk, as he did maDy tunes m the day, from corner to corner of his cell. At the firs~ turn, by the door, he struck his foot against something, wh1ch he upset. It was a p1tcher of water, which, with a l~af of bread, .h":d been put in that unusual place. The s1?ht wa5 as d1stmct in the signification as a yawning grave. H1s. door was to open upon him no more. He was not ngam to see a human face. The commandant was to be absent a while, and, on returning to find his prisoner dead. He used all means that he could devise to ascertail'l whetl:er it were indeed so. He called Bellines from the doo~ m the way which Billines had never failed to reply to Since the ·departure of Mars Plaisir. Bellines did not come. He sang aloud, as he had ne•er before been allowed to sing, unchecked, since he entered the fortress. He now sang unchecked. The hour of the afternoon meal passed, and no one came. The evening closed, and no bolt had been drawn. The case was clear. Th~ pr!soner n?w and then felt a moment's surprise nt cxpenencmg so ltttle recoil from such a fate. He was scarcely conscious even of repugnance. His tranquility was doubtl.ess o.wing, in part, to his having long contemplated death m .:h1s place as certain; to life having now little le.ft to make 1ts countenance desirable; and to hiskn owing h1mself to be so ~educed that the ~truggle could not be very long. But he h1mself be!Jeved h1s composure to be owing to. another cause than any of these. ."He who appointed me to the work of such a life as mm~,'' thought the dying man, "is making its close ea8y to h1~ servan.t. I would willingly have suffered to the extremity of h1s will: but my work is done; men's eyes are no Iunger upon me ; I am alone with him; and He is pleased to let me enter already upon my everlasting peace. If· |