Billaud-Varennes succeeded Cambon at the tribune.
"The mask must be torn aside, no matter whose face it covers!" he cried. "I would rather my corpse should be the stepping-stone of the ambitious than by my silence be an accomplice of their crimes!"
Others succeeded Billaud-Varennes, reiterating his accusations more boldly and insultingly. Robespierre, disconcerted, tried to face the storm, but it was too late. In confining himself to a general accusation, in mentioning no names, he had frightened every one. The Assembly revoked their previous decision, and amended the Bill. The speech was not to be sent to the Communes, but to the Committee, to be examined.
"What!" cried Robespierre, "I have the courage to make before the Convention revelations which I believe necessary to the salvation of the country, and my speech is to be submitted for examination to the very men whom I accuse!"
Victory had been followed by defeat; a partial defeat, it was true, for, seeing the hesitating attitude of the Convention, Robespierre hoped to win them back again the next day. He must, however, be prepared for every emergency! That very evening he would take steps to organise an insurrection of the Communes, which, in case of resistance, would annihilate the whole set of dastardly cowards. The Incorruptible wished to act within legal bounds as long as possible, and only to overstep them when forced to do so.
Robespierre looked round for Lebas, but he had disappeared, and this gave him grounds for hope that the two women, and perhaps Olivier, had reached the private apartments chosen by him in the Rue du Martroy.
"I must go and make sure that all is well," he said to himself; "there is not a moment to lose"—and leaving the Convention, he hastened in the direction of the Hôtel de Ville.
CHAPTER X
THE TUMBRILS
At that very moment Lebas reached the Hôtel de Ville with Clarisse and Thérèse. On leaving the prison of La Bourbe he had given a false address to the coachman who drove the prisoners, and he followed them at a distance in another carriage, accompanied by a man to superintend the luggage, who was one of the attendants at the Hôtel de Ville, and a devoted adherent of Robespierre. The second carriage soon overtook the first, when Lebas gave the correct address to the driver—