An hour after the delivery of this sentence, an order was given to the usher to announce it to the prisoners.
The sentence had been given after the stormy sitting of which we have spoken, and in which the accused had experienced such lively marks of sympathy from the public. And so, having beaten the judges on all the counts of the indictment, never had they been so full of hope.
They were seated at supper in their common room, calling to mind all the details of the sitting, when suddenly the door opened, and in the shade appeared the pale and stern form of the usher.
The solemn apparition changed, on the instant, into anxious palpitations their pleasant conversation.
The usher advanced slowly, while the jailer remained at the door, and the barrels of muskets were seen shining in the gloom of the corridor.
"What is your will, sir?" asked Pontcalec, "and what signifies this deadly paraphernalia?"
"Gentlemen," said the usher, "I bear the sentence of the tribunal. On your knees and listen."
"How?" said Montlouis, "it is only sentences of death that must be heard kneeling."
"On your knees, gentlemen," replied the usher.
"Let the guilty and the base kneel," said Du Couëdic; "we are gentlemen, and innocent. We will hear our sentences standing."