The registrar turned pale with fright, and feeling convinced that if he turned his eyes in that direction it would only be to encounter the terrible look of Dixmer, hastily seized the card and replied,—
"Yes, yes; it is my signature."
"Then," cried Lorin, "if it is your signature, return it to me."
"No;" said the registrar, tearing it into a thousand pieces; "these cards can be available only once."
Lorin remained for a moment irresolute.
"So much the worse," said he; "but above all things it is necessary I should kill him;" and he passed through the office.
Maurice had followed Lorin with an emotion easy to comprehend. When he had disappeared, Maurice returned, saying with an exultation nearly amounting to joy, "He is saved! Geneviève; the card is destroyed, therefore he cannot enter. Besides, even if he were able to gain admission, the sitting of the Tribunal will have terminated. At five o'clock, he will return; but we shall have ceased to live."
Geneviève shuddered, and breathed a deep sigh.
"Oh, press me in your arms," said she, "and let us separate no more! Why is it not possible, oh, my God! for one blow to annihilate us both, that together we might breathe our last sigh?"