ghboring fort. Their convent was stripped of
everything. The building, however, was saved by a _ruse_ on the
part of an officer of the Commune, one of the better class. They
were two days without food, and were then driven into Paris like a
flock of sheep, their black-and-white dress exposing them to all the
insults and ribaldry of the excited multitude; for the Versaillais
were in Paris, and hope, among those who knew the situation, was
drawing to an end. That night the Dominicans were confined in a
prison on the Avenue d'Italie, where a friend of Serizier's (known
as Bobeche) was instructed what to do with them. During the morning,
however, Bobeche went to a drinking saloon, and while there the
man he left in charge received orders to send the priests to work
on a barricade. He affected to misunderstand the order, and sent,
instead, fifteen National Guards imprisoned for insubordination.
When Bobeche came back, half-drunk, he was furious. "What! was the
blood of priests to be spared, and that of patriots imperilled
at a post of danger?" Before long the order was repeated. "We will
tend your wounded, General," said the prior, "we will go after
them under fire, but we will not do the work of soldiers for you." At
this, soldiers were called out to shoot the Dominicans. They were
reluctant to obey, and Serizier dared not risk disobedience. The
fathers were remanded to prison, but were soon called out one by
one. Some volunteers had been found willing to do the shooting,
among them two women, the fiercest of the band. As the fathers came
into the street, all were shot at, but some were untouched; and
soon succeeded a dreadful scene. Round and round the open square,
and up side streets, they were hunted. Four of the twenty escaped.
Men laughed and women clapped their hands at seeing the priests run.
Then Serizier went back to the prison, and was making preparations
to shoot the remaining prisoners, who were laymen, when one of
his subordinates leaned over him and whispered that the troops of
Versailles were at hand. He dropped his papers and made off. The
troops came on, and picked up the bodies of the dead Dominicans.
Serizier was not arrested till some months after, when the wife of
one of his victims, who had dogged him constantly after her husband's
death, discovered him in disguise and gave him up to justice.

The Prefecture of Police, which stands upon an island in the Seine,
in the heart of Paris, had in those days