to ascertain that the man they had arrested was the
Abbe Deguerry, _cure_ of the Madeleine. He was dragged into the house,
the door was shut, and all sank into silence again.

That morning I learned that Monseigneur Darboy, the Archbishop of Paris,
was taken at the same hour and in almost similar circumstances.

[Illustration: ABBE DEGUERRY, Cure of the Madeleine.]

The arrests of several other ecclesiastics are cited. The _cure_ of St.
Severin and the _cure_ of St. Eustache have been made prisoners, it is
said; the first in his own house, the second at the moment when he was
leaving his church. The _cure_ of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires was to have
been arrested also, but warned in time, he was able to place himself in
safety.

Monseigneur Darboy, being conducted to the ex-prefecture (why the
_ex_-prefecture? It seems to me it works just as well as when it was
purely and simply a prefecture), was cross-examined there by the citizen
delegate Rigault. It must be said that Monsieur Rigault had begun to
make himself talked about during these last few days. He is evidently a
man who has a natural vocation for the employment he has chosen, for he
arrests, and arrests, and still arrests. He is young, cold, and cynical.
But his cynicism does not exclude him from a certain gaiety, as we shall
see. It was the Citizen Rigault, then, who examined the Archbishop of
Paris. I am not inordinately curious, but I should very much like to
know what the cynical member of the Commune could ask of Monseigneur
Darboy. Having committed apparently but one crime, that of being a
priest, and having no inclination to disguise it, it is difficult to
know what the interrogatory could turn upon. Monsieur Rigault's
imagination furnished him no doubt with ample materials for the
interview, and he has probably as much vocation for the part of a
magistrate as for that of a police officer. But however it may be, the
journals of the Commune record this fragment with ill-disguised
admiration.

[Illustration: RAOUL RIGAULT[36]]

[Illustration: MONSEIGNEUR DARBOY, Archbishop of Paris.]

"My children"--the white-haired Archbishop of Paris is reported to have
said at one moment.

"Citizen," interrupted the Citizen Rigault, who is not yet thirty, "you
are not before children, but before magistrates."

That was smart! And I can conceive the enthusiasm with which Monsieur
Rigault inspires the members of the Commune. But this excellent citizen
did not confi