voice so choked that only those near
her heard the words.

"Madame de Montrevel!" murmured the audience.

At that moment the first gendarme appeared at the door, then the second.
After him came the prisoners, but not in the same order as before.
Morgan had placed himself third, so that, separated as he was from the
gendarmes by Montbar and Adler in front and d'Assas behind, he might be
better able to clasp Amelie's hand.

Montbar entered first.

Madame de Montrevel shook her head.

Then came Adler.

Madame de Montrevel made the same negative sign.

Just then Morgan passed before Amelie.

"We are lost!" she said.

He looked at her in astonishment as she pressed his hand convulsively.
Then he entered.

"That is he," said Madame de Montrevel, as soon as she saw Morgan--or,
if the reader prefers it, Baron Charles de Sainte-Hermine--who was
now proved one and the same man by means of Madame de Montrevel's
identification.

A long cry of distress burst from the audience. Montbar burst into a
laugh.

"Ha! by my faith!" he cried, "that will teach you, dear friend, to play
the gallant with fainting women." Then, turning to Madame de Montrevel,
he added: "With three short words, madame, you have decapitated four
heads."

A terrible silence fell, in the midst of which a groan was heard.

"Usher," said the judge, "have you warned the public that all marks of
approbation or disapproval are forbidden?"

The usher inquired who had disobeyed the order of the court. It was a
woman wearing the dress of a Bressan peasant, who was being carried into
the jailer's room.

From that moment the accused made no further attempt at denial; but,
just as Morgan had united with them when arrested, they now joined with
him. Their four heads should be saved, or fall together.

That same day, at ten in the evening, the jury rendered a verdict of
guilty, and the court pronounced the sentence of death.

Three days later, by force of entreaties, the lawyers obtained
permission for the accused to appeal their case; but they were not
admitted to bail.

CHAPTER LIII. IN WHICH AMELIE KEEPS HER WORD

The verdict rendered by the jury of the town of Bourg had a terrible
effect, not only in the courtroom, but throughout the entire town. The
four prisoners had shown such chivalric brotherhood, such noble bearing,
such deep conviction in the faith they professed, that their enemies
themselves admired the devotion which had made robbe