ircles equally as they did the grumblings of the Faubourg St. Antoine--
pronounced the time had come when the fatal stroke might no longer be
withheld, and when the long-destined vengeance should descend on their
devoted heads.

The want of energy on the part of the prosecution--the absence of
important witnesses and of all direct evidence whatever--which marked
the first four days of the trial, had infused a high hope and a strong
sense of security into the prisoners' hearts. The proofs which they
so much dreaded, and of whose existence they well knew, were not
forthcoming against them. The rumored treachery of some of their party
began at length to lose its terror for them; while in the lax and
careless proceedings of the Procureur-General they saw, or fancied
they saw, a desire on the part of Government to render the public
uninterested spectators of the scene, and thus prepare the way for an
acquittal, while no danger of any excitement existed.

Such was the state of matters at the close of the fourth day. A tiresome
and desultory discussion on some merely legal question had occupied the
court for several hours, and many of the spectators, wearied and tired
out, had gone home disappointed in their expectations, and secretly
resolving not to return the following day.

This was the moment for which the party in power had been waiting,--the
interval of false security, as it would seem, when all danger was
past, and no longer any apprehension existed. The sudden shock of the
newly-discovered proofs would then come with peculiar force; while,
mo matter how rapid any subsequent step might be, all charge of
precipitancy or undue haste had been disproved by the tardy nature of
the first four days' proceedings.

For the change of scene about to take place, an early edition of the
"Moniteur" prepared the public; and by daybreak the walls of Paris
were placarded with great announcements of the discoveries made by the
Government: how, by their untiring efforts, the whole plot, which was
to deluge France with blood and subvert the glorious institutions of
freedom they had acquired by the Revolution, had been laid open; new
and convincing evidence of the guilt of the _Chouans_ had turned up; and
a frightful picture of anarchy and social disorganization was
displayed,--all of which was to originate in an effort to restore the
Bourbons to the throne of France.

While, therefore, the galleries of the court were crowded to suffo