LOUIS DUVAL.

rower and steeper, terminated in a dark passage. On
either side of the passage were broken and crazy doors,
mostly half open, which seemed to lead into empty
attics, and above was the bare roof of the house,
through which the night air gained admittance by
many a chink.
 The boy was still before, and unconscious of
followers. Taking off his sabots, he gently opened a
door at the further end of the passage, and entered.
For a moment or two all was silent, and the young
Countess approached the door and entered, followed
by Anthony, bearing a light.
 The boy started as the light gleamed upon the
wall, and then, without speaking, crept closely to the
side of his grandmother, who still sat motionless in
the chair as he had left her. Her hand lay in her lap,
and he took it in his own to press to his lips. Then
suddenly dropping it in terror, he uttered a loud cry
--" She is dead--she is dead "
 Yes, dead-cold dead-starved to death

 This is not a fit place for madame," said Anthony,
respectfully bowing to the trembling young lady, after
ascertaining that they were indeed in the chamber
of death.
 "You are wrong," replied the Countess St. Clair,
recovering herself, "you are very wrong, Anthony;
it is a fit place for me; and I wish that every gay
woman in Paris could see this sight. No wonder the
people say we are heartless and selfish, when, even
over our heads, in the very houses we live in, they are
starving to death."
 What, then, will madame do?" asked the servant,
who stood shivering with cold, and half terrified at
sight of the poor old woman dead.