"To-morrow my head will be off, and you think nothing will then remain to prove what I say.

I have another proof, fortunately--material and indestructible proof--which it is beyond your power to destroy, and which will speak when my body is six feet under ground." "What is the proof ?" demanded another judge, upon whom the duke looked askance.
The prisoner shook his head.
"I will give it to you when you offer me my life in exchange for it," he replied.

"It is now in the hands of a trusty person, who knows its value.

It will go to the King if necessary.

We would like to understand the part which the Marquis de Sairmeuse has played in this affair--whether he was truly with us, or whether he was only an instigating agent." A tribunal regardful of the immutable rules of justice, or even of its own honor, would, by virtue of its discretionary powers, have instantly demanded the presence of the Marquis de Sairmeuse.
But the military commission considered such a course quite beneath its dignity.
These men arrayed in gorgeous uniforms were not judges charged with the vindication of a cruel law, but still a law--they were the instruments, commissioned by the conquerors, to strike the vanquished in the name of that savage code which may be summed up in two words: "_vae victis_." The president, the noble Duc de Sairmeuse, would not have consented to summon Martial on any consideration.