"Look at the danger we run," continued Giraud. "Well, now with a grating which I shall place in the middle of this underground passage before it reaches the cell of the Widow Capet, I shall save the country."
"Ah, Citizen Giraud!" said Santerre, "that is an idea bordering on the sublime."
"Perdition seize you, addle-pated fool!" grumbled the patriot, with redoubled fury.
"Now raise the stone," said the architect to the Citizen Gracchus, who in addition to a lantern carried a crowbar.
Gracchus set to work, and in a second the stone was raised.
The vault appeared open, with the staircase lost in its profundity, while the moist air escaped like a pestilent vapor.
"Another abortive attempt," murmured the Citizen Théodore. "Alas! Heaven does not will that she should escape, and her cause must be accursed!"