CHAPTER XXII.
The close of day.
Deroulede had spent the whole of this same night in a wild, impassioned search for Juliette.
Earlier in the day, soon after Anne Mie's revelations, he had sought out his English friend, Sir Percy Blakeney, and talked over with him the final arrangements for the removal of Madame Deroulede and Anne Mie from Paris.
Though he was a born idealist and a Utopian, Paul Deroulede had never for a moment had any illusions with regard to his own popularity.

He knew that at any time, and for any trivial cause, the love which the mob bore him would readily turn to hate.

He had seen Mirabeau's popularity wane, La Fayette's, Desmoulin's--was it likely that _he_ alone would survive the inevitable death of so ephemeral a thing?
Therefore, whilst he was in power, whilst he was loved and trusted, he had, figuratively and actually, put his house in order.

He had made full preparations for his own inevitable downfall, for that probable flight from Paris of those who were dependent upon him.
He had, as far back as a year ago, provided himself with the necessary passports, and bespoken with his English friend certain measures for the safety of his mother and his crippled little relative.

Now it was merely a question of putting these measures into execution.
Within two hours of Juliette Marny's arrest, Madame Deroulede and Anne Mie had quitted the house in the Rue Ecole de Medecine.