"I know him as a former nobleman, an emigré, who is proscribed by the Republic; I wonder that he puts his life in danger by returning to the land he fled from."
The marquis made an uneasy gesture, and was about to speak when Robespierre said:—
"He has taken the oath of allegiance to the Republic."
Tournay laughed outright at this. "And do you trust his oath?" he asked.
"And for the service he now renders the nation, his emigration and the fact of his having been an aristocrat are to be condoned." As he spoke, a grim smile hovered about Robespierre's lips. It faded away instantly, leaving his face as mirthless and forbidding as before.
"Shall we ask the Citizen Lacheville to tell us when he last saw you?" he went on sternly.
"It is unnecessary. We met last at Falzenberg," said Tournay, eyeing him with disdain.
"Where you were on terms of intimacy with Prussian officers," said de Lacheville. "I will not dwell upon the fact of your having assisted an aristocrat to escape from prison; but I will testify to your having come in disguise to the enemies of France and entered into a secret understanding with them. I was serving those same enemies at the time, I will admit," and the marquis shrugged his shoulders, "but as the Citizen Robespierre has said, I have repented of it, and have come here to make atonement by faithful devotion to the nation. One of the greatest of my pleasures is to help unmask a hypocrite."
Tournay addressed Robespierre.
"Do you believe this man's story?"