"It is this. I asked Madame la Princesse for a pass to allow me to talk with the prisoners; for if there were any way of saving Captain Cauvignac I would be glad to enroll him in our party; but the pass is useless to me now, as you have condemned him to death with your prayers for Monsieur de Canolles."
Claire could not repress a shudder.
"So take this paper," continued Lenet; "there is no name mentioned in it, you see."
Claire took it and read:—
"The keeper of the fortress will permit the bearer of this to converse for half an hour with either of the two prisoners of war, as he may choose.
"CLAIRE-CLÉMENCE DE CONDÉ."
"You have a suit of man's clothes," said Lenet; "put it on. You have the permit; use it."
"Poor fellow!" murmured Claire, unable to banish from her mind the thought of Cauvignac to be executed in place of Canolles.
"He undergoes the common fate," said Lenet. "Being weak, he is devoured by the strong; having no protector, he pays for him who has; he is an intelligent fellow."
Claire meanwhile was turning the paper over and over in her hands.
"Do you know," said she, "that you tempt me cruelly with this permit? Do you know that if I once hold my poor friend in my arms I am quite capable of taking him with me to the ends of the world?"