"Monsieur Edmond!" they yelled, giving me the name by which I was best known to them; "Bravo, bravo, we will see justice done, monsieur!"
"Be quiet!" I cried angrily, "and listen to me. Do you know what you are doing?"
"Yes, yes. Burn the house down! He set the murderers on!"
"Who told you that?"
"Let him deny it! Where is he? Fetch him out!"
They were excited, even dangerous; I almost doubted if my influence was sufficient to keep them from doing mischief; yet in ordinary times they were as docile and obedient as a flock of sheep. They vowed they would not depart unless Cordel came out to them, and at length the lawyer appeared on the balcony which ran along the front of the house above the ground floor.
He had huddled on a dressing-gown, and looked so wretched and forlorn that I almost felt it in my heart to pity him. But the mob showed no mercy, greeting him with cries of "Assassin!" "Murderer!" and declaring loudly that he was unfit to live.
As soon as their shouts ceased, I exclaimed, "Monsieur Cordel, an attempt has been made on my life, and it is rumoured that you hired the men to kill me. Perhaps you will satisfy these good people that they are mistaken!"
He leaned over the railing and looked down, his face yellow, his eyes staring, evidently in abject fear for his life.
"My friends," he cried desperately, and it made one laugh to hear him address these peasants, whom he utterly despised, as his friends, "I know nothing; I am innocent; I have conspired against no man's life. I swear it!"