If so, woe betide them and all of us.

In the midst of my trouble the one thought that cheered me, despite the pang of jealousy that came with it, was that they were not without protection; and that Captain Lestrange, who had shown himself so ready of resource in the morning, might succeed even without my help in rescuing those innocent ones from the bloody hands of "the terror." A chill went through me when it dawned upon me at last that I was being conducted to the fatal Conciergerie--that half-way house between life and death towards which so many roads converged, but from which only one, that to the guillotine, led.
An angry parley took place at the door between the jailer and my captors.
"Why here ?" demanded the former; "we are packed to the bursting point." "To-morrow you will have more room by fifty," said the other.
"This is not to-morrow," growled the hard-worked official.
"The _detenu_ is your parishioner," said the soldier.
"It is scandalous the slowness with which the Committee works," said the jailer.

"Fifty a day goes no way; we want one hundred and fifty." "You shall have it, Citizen Concierge.

Patience!--Now, Regnier, enter, and adieu," said he, with a push from the butt-end of his gun.
Beyond entering my name and assigning me my night's quarters, no notice was taken of me by my jailers.

I was allowed to wander on into the crowded courtyard, where of the hundreds who prowled about like caged animals none troubled themselves so much as to look up at the new unfortunate.