The two remaining cars followed the direction of the first. And now commenced a terrific tempest of cries, shouts, groans, and maledictions, surrounding and following the condemned.
"Courage! Geneviève, take courage!" murmured Maurice.
"Oh!" replied the young woman, "I do not wish for life since I die with you. I regret only that my hands are tied, so that I cannot embrace you before I die."
"Lorin," said Maurice, "feel in my waistcoat pocket, there you will find a knife."
"Zounds!" said Lorin, "a penknife is the very thing needed; I should be ashamed to die, garroted like a calf."
Maurice placed his pocket on a level with his friend's hands; Lorin found the knife, which between them they succeeded in opening. Maurice then placed it between his teeth, and severed the cord which bound Lorin's hands, who, the moment they were free, performed the same office for Maurice.
"Make haste!" said the young man; "Geneviève is fainting."
In fact, to accomplish this operation Maurice had for a moment turned from Geneviève, when, as if all her strength had been derived from him, her eyes closed, and her head sank upon her breast.
"Geneviève, open your eyes, my love," said Maurice; "we have only a few minutes more to see each other in this world."
"The cords wound me," murmured the young woman.