A greffier nodded his head in confirmation, and extended a handful of papers toward the judge, saying:
"Citoyen, he speaks the truth."
Murmurs ran through the crowd:
"It's a mistake!"
"He's a child!"
"Release him!"
On the judges' bench the figure of Dumas arose.
"And if you are only sixteen," he cried brutally, "in the matter of crime you are fully eighty." Then, with a furious gesture, he added: "Pass on, and make haste!"
The murmur of revolt from the audience was overwhelmed in a sudden roar of astonishment. Dumas had been arrested! The counter-revolution had come! Those who had not seen the arrest cried: