That is to say, the Duc de Sairmeuse and the Marquis de Courtornieu were passing the prisoners in review.
They numbered three hundred, and the duke and his companion had decided to summon before the commission thirty of the most dangerous conspirators.
How were they to select them? By what method could they discover the extent of each prisoner’s guilt? It would have been difficult for them to explain.
They went from one to another, asking any question that entered their minds, and after the terrified man replied, according as they thought his countenance good or bad, they said to the jailer who accompanied them: “Keep this one until another time,” or, “This one for to-morrow.”
By daylight, they had thirty names upon their list: and the names of the Baron d’Escorval and Chanlouineau led all the rest.
Although the unhappy party at the Hotel de France could not suspect this fact, they suffered an agony of fear and dread through the long night which seemed to them eternal.
As soon as day broke, they heard the beating of the reveille at the citadel; the hour when they might commence their efforts anew had come.
The abbe announced that he was going alone to the duke’s house, and that he would find a way to force an entrance.
He had bathed his red and swollen eyes in fresh water, and was prepared to start on his expedition, when someone rapped cautiously at the door of the chamber.
Maurice cried: “Come in,” and M. Laugeron instantly entered the room.