good jailer. I confess I miss
him."

They entered the hall the judges had just left, in which a man was
standing alone, whom Coconnas recognized as the Attorney-General. In the
course of the examination the latter had spoken several times, always
with an animosity easy to understand.

He was the one whom Catharine, both by letter and in person, had
specially charged with the trial.

At the farther end of this room, the corners of which were lost in
darkness behind a partly raised curtain, Coconnas saw such dreadful
sights that he felt his limbs give away, and cried out: "Oh, my God!"

It was not without cause that the cry had been uttered. The sight was
indeed terrible. The portion of the room hidden during the trial by the
curtain, which was now drawn back, looked like the entrance to hell.

A wooden horse was there, to which were attached ropes, pulleys, and
other accessories of torture. Further on glowed a brazier, which threw
its lurid glare on the surrounding objects, and which added to the
terror of the spectacle. Against one of the pillars which supported the
ceiling stood a man motionless as a statue, holding a rope in his hand.
He looked as though made of the stone of the column against which he
leaned. To the walls above the stone benches, between iron links, chains
were suspended and blades glittered.

"Oh!" murmured Coconnas, "the chamber of horrors is all ready,
apparently waiting only for the patient! What can it mean?"

"On your knees, Marc Annibal Coconnas," said a voice which caused that
gentleman to raise his head. "On your knees to hear the sentence just
pronounced on you!"

This was an invitation against which the whole soul of Annibal
instinctively rebelled.

But as he was about to refuse two men placed their hands on his
shoulders so unexpectedly and so suddenly that his knees bent under him
on the pavement. The voice continued.

"Sentence of the court sitting in the prison of Vincennes on Marc
Annibal de Coconnas, accused and convicted of high treason, of an
attempt to poison, of sacrilege and magic against the person of the
King, of a conspiracy against the kingdom, and of having by his
pernicious counsels driven a prince of the blood to rebellion."

At each charge Coconnas had shaken his head, keeping time like a
fractious child. The judge continued:

"In consequence of which, the aforesaid Marc Annibal de Coconnas shall
be taken from prison to the Place Saint Jean en Greve to be