in a word, as part of a
system and to show you what an atheist is capable of."

"Do not calumniate yourself, sir," replied the Pere Longuemare. "I have
received of God more marks of grace than He has accorded you hitherto;
but I am not as good a man as you, and am greatly your inferior in
natural merits. But now let me take an advantage too over you. Not
knowing me, you cannot love me. And I, sir, without knowing you, I love
you better than myself; God bids me do so."

Having so said, the Pere Longuemare knelt down on the floor, and after
repeating his prayers, stretched himself on his palliasse and fell
peacefully asleep.

XIII

Evariste Gamelin occupied his place as juror of the Tribunal for the
second time. Before the opening of the sitting, he discussed with his
colleagues the news that had arrived that morning. Some of it was
doubtful, some untrue; but part was authentic--and appalling; the armies
of the coalition in command of all the roads and marching _en masse_ on
Paris, La Vendee triumphant, Lyons in insurrection, Toulon surrendered
to the English, who were landing fourteen thousand men there.

For him and his fellow magistrates these were not only events of
interest to all the world, but so many matters of domestic concern.
Foredoomed to perish in the ruin of the fatherland, they made the public
salvation their own proper business. The Nation's interests, thus
entangled with their own, dictated their opinions and passions and
conduct.

Gamelin, where he sat on the jury bench, was handed a letter from
Trubert, Secretary of the Committee of Defence; it was to notify his
appointment as Commissioner of Supplies of Powder and Saltpetre:

_"You will excavate all the cellars in the Section in order to
extract the substances necessary for the manufacture of powder.
To-morrow perhaps the enemy will be before Paris; the soil of the
fatherland must provide us with the lightning we shall launch
against our aggressors. I send you herewith a schedule of
instructions from the Convention regarding the manipulation of
saltpetres. Farewell and brotherly greeting."_

At that moment the accused was brought in. He was one of the last of the
defeated Generals whom the Convention delivered over one after the other
to the Tribunal, and the most insignificant. At sight of him Gamelin
shuddered; once again he seemed to see the same soldier whom three weeks
before, looking on as a sp