"How?"
"Their legs will crack this very morning in Paris at eight o'clock."
"Those living beings whom I have seen, that cruel death!" she cried. "Where is the Prime Minister? Christ help me!"
She took no heed of her flimsy, incongruous dress, her fatigue, her need of sleep. Her soul was overwhelmed with the Christian desire to save, and in her sudden energy the girl over-awed the reptile before her.
"Why do you wait, sir?" she exclaimed. "Conduct me to the Minister instantly!"
"What, at this hour? In this manner? Does my lady reflect what will be said to-morrow throughout the town?" he ejaculated.
"You have my command," she answered him, motioning to her maid to follow.
Sometimes leading, and sometimes instructed where to go, the Abbé preceded her through a long maze of chambers and passages, in each of which sentinels were posted, until they came to the antechamber of Monsieur de Calonne.
By good luck, the Minister, like herself, had not yet retired, but was signing papers.
His astonishment was unbounded at both her appearance and her agitated and remarkable request.