"Hah!" murmured the turnkey, "what is about to happen now? It is Dixmer's voice."
Sinister and vibrating, this voice seemed to borrow something funereal from the far-off echoes of the gloomy corridor.
Duchesne turned round.
"Well," said Gilbert, "if he wishes it I must go," and he directed his steps toward the door.
The turnkey availed himself of this moment when the attention of the two gendarmes was thus occupied by this unforeseen circumstance. He ran toward the window of the queen.
"Is it done?" said he.
"I have more than half finished," said the queen.
"Oh, for the love of God!" murmured he; "make haste! make haste!"
"Hallo! Citizen Mardoche," said Duchesne, "what has become of you?"