ch contained no
mention of the chivalrous conduct of Le Chevalier; it said that "the
police had seized this brigand at the house of a woman with whom he had
relations, and that they had succeeded in throwing themselves upon him
before he could use his weapons." On the morning of the 9th, Commandant
Durand, of the staff, presented himself at the Temple, and had the irons
removed from the prisoner, who appeared at noon before a military
commission in a hall in the staff office, 7 Quoi Voltaire. This
expeditious magistracy was so sparing of its paper and ink that it took
no notes. It played, in the social organisation, the role of a trap into
which were thrust such people as were found embarrassing. Some were
condemned whose fate is only known because their names have been found
scribbled on a torn paper that served as an envelope for police reports.

Le Chevalier was condemned to death; he left the office of the staff at
four o'clock and was thrown into the Abbaye to await execution. While
the preparations were being made he wrote the following letter to Mme.
Thiboust who had been three days without news, and it reached the poor
woman the next day.

"_Saturday_, 9 January, 1808.

"I am going to die, my sister, and I bequeath you my son. I do not
doubt that you will show him all a mother's tenderness and care. I
beg you also to have all the firmness and vigilance that I should
have had in forming his character and heart.

"Unfortunately, in leaving you the child that is so dear to me, I
cannot also leave you a fortune equal to that which I inherited
from my parents. I reproach myself, more than for any other fault
in my life, for having diminished the inheritance they transmitted
to me. Bring him up according to his actual fortune, and make him
an artisan, if you must, rather than commit him to the care of
strangers.

"One of my greatest regrets in quitting this life, is leaving it
without having shown my gratitude to you and your daughter.

"Good-bye; I shall live, I hope, in your remembrance, and you will
keep me alive in that of my son.

"Le Chevalier."

Night had come--a cold misty winter night--when the cab that was to take
the prisoner to his execution arrived at the door of the Abbaye. It was
a long way from Saint-Germain-des-Pres to the barriers by way of the Rue