nner, apoplexy
supervening, expired.'"

"_Par Saint Louis_, sir," cried George, "the explanation is admirable,
and most satisfactorily shows how a man may possess life long enough
to be certain he has killed himself. The only thing wanting is for the
general to assist in dressing the proces-verbal, when doubtless his own
views of his case would be equally edifying and instructive. And see,
already the ceremony has begun."

As he spoke, he pointed to a number of persons who crossed the terrace,
preceded by Savary in his uniform of the Gendarmes d'Elite, and who went
in the direction of the cell where the dead body lay.

The prisoners now fell into little knots and groups, talking beneath
their breath, and apparently terrified at every stir about them. Each
compared his sensation of what he thought he heard during the night with
the other's. Some asserted that they distinctly heard the chains of the
drawbridge creak long after midnight; others vouched for the quick tramp
of feet along the corridors, and the sounds of strange voices; one,
whose cell was beneath that of Pichegru, said that he was awoke
before day by a violent crash overhead, followed by a harsh sound like
coughing, which continued for some time and then ceased entirely. These
were vague, uncertain signs, yet what horrible thoughts did they not
beget in each listener's mind!

As I stood terror-struck and speechless, I felt a tap oif my shoulder.
I turned; it was the Abbe, who, with a smile of peculiar irony, stood
behind me.

"Poor Savary!" said he, in a whisper; "how will he ever get over this
blunder, and it so very like the former one!"

He did not wait for a reply, but moved away.

"Who is to be the next, sir?" cried George, with a deep voice, as he saw
the assemblage thus accidentally collected about to break up. "Moreau,
perhaps. One thing I bid you all bear witness to: suicide is a crime I
'll never commit; let no narrative of a cravat and a fagot--"

"Do you never eat mushrooms, General?" said the Abbe, dryly; and
whether from the manner of the speaker, or the puzzled look of him
to whom the speech was addressed, the whole crowd burst into a fit of
laughter,--the emotion seemed like one in which relief was felt by all.
They laughed long and loud; and now the faces that a minute before were
marked by every character of deep affliction, looked merry and happy.
Each had some story, some apropos to tell, or some smart witticism to
let off again