The pen dropped from the unfortunate girl's fingers. She buried her face
in her hands and sobbed convulsively. The children were silent, awed and
subdued--tired out, too. Only Etienne's dark eyes were fixed upon his
sister with a look of mute reproach.
Lebel had made no attempt to interrupt the flow of his colleague's
dictation. Only once or twice did a hastily smothered "What the---!" of
astonishment escape his lips. Now, when the letter was finished and duly
signed, he drew it to him and strewed the sand over it. Chauvelin, more
impassive than ever, was once more gazing out of the window.
"How are the ci-devant aristos to get this letter?" the commissary
asked.
"It must be put in the hollow tree which stands by the side of the
stable gate at Montorgueil," whispered Lucile.
"And the aristos will find it there?"
"Yes. M. le Vicomte goes there once or twice a week to see if there is
anything there from one of us."
"They are in hiding somewhere close by, then?"
But to this the girl gave no reply. Indeed, she felt as if any word now
might choke her.
"Well, no matter where they are!" the inhuman wretch resumed, with
brutal cynicism. "We've got them now--both of them. Marquis! Vicomte!"
he added, and spat on the ground to express his contempt of such titles.
"Citizens Montorgueil, father and son--that's all they are! And as such
they'll walk up in state to make their bow to Mme. la Guillotine!"
"May we go now?" stammered Lucile through her tears.
Lebel nodded in assent, and the girl rose and turned to walk towards the
door. She called to the children, and the little ones clustered round
her skirts like chicks around the mother-hen. Only Etienne remained
aloof, wrathful against his sister for what he deemed her treachery.
"Women have no sense of honour!" he muttered to himself, with all the
pride of conscious manhood. But Lucile felt more than ever like a bird
who is vainly trying to evade the clutches of a fowler. She gathered the
two little ones around her. Then, with a cry like a wounded doe she ran
quickly out of the room.