"Yes," said Maurice; "but this permission was for yourself only, Citizeness."
"I brought my friend, that there might be two of us in the midst of the soldiers, at least."
"Very good; but your friend cannot go up."
"As you please, Citizen," said Sophie Tison, pressing the hand of her friend, who, close against the wall, seemed paralyzed with surprise and terror.
"Citizen sentinels," said Maurice, raising his voice and addressing the sentinels who were stationed on every landing, "allow the Citizen Tison to pass, but do not permit her friend to pass; she will remain on the staircase. See that she is treated with all due respect."
"Yes, Citizen," replied the sentinels.
"Go up, then," said Maurice.
The two women then passed on; and Maurice, leaping over the remaining five or six steps, advanced rapidly into the court.
"What is all this?" said he to the National Guard; "and what is the cause of this noise? The cries of a child were heard as far as the prisoners' antechamber."