Was it not Lantenac?
Who had put their cradles in the fire?
Was it not the Imânus?
Who was the Imânus?
The lieutenant of the Marquis.
It is the chief who bears the responsibility.
Hence Lantenac was both the incendiary and the assassin.
Why then was his deed so admirable?
He had simply desisted from evil,—nothing more.
Having conceived the crime, he had recoiled before its presence; he was horrified at himself. The mother's shriek had stirred within him the dregs of human pity,—the deposit of universal life which exists in every soul, even in the most cruel. At this cry he had retraced his steps; from the darkness towards which he was plunging he had turned back towards the light. Having committed the crime, he made haste to retrieve it. He had not continued a monster to the very end; herein lay all his merit.