However, I tried hard not to despair, and resolved, if need be, to meet my fate bravely.
In this manner more than a fortnight passed, when one morning, about two hours after my breakfast of black bread and water, I was surprised to hear the tramp of marching feet, which stopped opposite my cell.
The key turned in the massive lock, the door opened, and I was harshly ordered to step outside.
A number of soldiers with bayonets fixed waited. I was placed in the midst of them and hurried away.
These men belonged to an infantry regiment, and were strangers to me, but it was plain they had formed a very unfavourable opinion of my character.
Crossing the square, they halted in front of a low door, and the officer in command of the party signed to me to follow him.
An antechamber was filled with soldiers, fully armed and standing at attention, while their faces were about as human as chiselled stone.
Passing through, we entered a second apartment, where a dozen officers were seated round a baize-covered table littered with writing material.
Recognizing that these men held my life in their hands, I looked at them eagerly.
The president's chair was occupied by a tall old man with slightly-stooping shoulders, scanty white hair, and long, drooping, white moustaches.