ould further resistance avail? Nothing. The abbe, with a face
whiter than the plastered walls, and eyes filled with tears, came back
to his place beside Maurice.

The lawyers, meanwhile, were uttering their protests with increasing
energy. But the duke, by a prolonged hammering upon the table with his
fists, at last succeeded in reducing them to silence.

"Ah! you wish testimony!" he exclaimed. "Very well, you shall have it.
Soldiers, bring in the first witness."

A movement among the guards, and almost immediately Chupin appeared.
He advanced deliberately, but his countenance betrayed him. A close
observer could have read his anxiety and his terror in his eyes, which
wandered restlessly about the room.

And there was a very appreciable terror in his voice when, with hand
uplifted, he swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth.

"What do you know regarding the prisoner d'Escorval?" demanded the duke.

"I know that he took part in the rebellion on the night of the fourth."

"Are you sure of this?"

"I can furnish proofs."

"Submit them to the consideration of the commission."

The old scoundrel began to gain more confidence.

"First," he replied, "it was to the house of Monsieur d'Escorval that
Lacheneur hastened after he had, much against his will, restored to
Monsieur le Duc the chateau of Monsieur le Duc's ancestors. Monsieur
Lacheneur met Chanlouineau there, and from that day dates the plot of
this insurrection."

"I was Lacheneur's friend," said the baron; "it was perfectly natural
that he should come to me for consolation after a great misfortune."

M. de Sairmeuse turned to his colleague.

"You hear that!" said he. "This d'Escorval calls the restitution of a
deposit a great misfortune! Go on, witness."

"In the second place," resumed Chupin, "the accused was always prowling
about Lacheneur's house."

"That is false," interrupted the baron. "I never visited the house but
once, and on that occasion I implored him to renounce."

He paused, comprehending only when it was too late, the terrible
significance of his words. But having begun, he would not retract, and
he added:

"I implored him to renounce this project of an insurrection."

"Ah! then you knew his wicked intentions?"

"I suspected them."

"Not to reveal a conspiracy makes one an accomplice, and means the
guillotine."

Baron d'Escorval had just signed his death-warrant.

Strange caprice of destiny! He wa