Armand, after five minutes of tense anxiety, was allowed to cross
the barrier, but his certificate of safety was detained. He would
have to get another from the Committee of General Security before
he would be allowed to leave Paris again.
The lion had thought fit to close his jaws.
CHAPTER XVI
THE WEARY SEARCH
Blakeney was not at his lodgings when Armand arrived there that
evening, nor did he return, whilst the young man haunted the
precincts of St. Germain l'Auxerrois and wandered along the quays
hours and hours at a stretch, until he nearly dropped under the
portico of a house, and realised that if he loitered longer he
might lose consciousness completely, and be unable on the morrow
to be of service to Jeanne.
He dragged his weary footsteps back to his own lodgings on the
heights of Montmartre. He had not found Percy, he had no news of
Jeanne; it seemed as if hell itself could hold no worse tortures
than this intolerable suspense.
He threw himself down on the narrow palliasse and, tired nature
asserting herself, at last fell into a heavy, dreamless torpor,
like the sleep of a drunkard, deep but without the beneficent aid
of rest.
It was broad daylight when he awoke. The pale light of a damp,
wintry morning filtered through the grimy panes of the window.
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