the pen is loath to reproduce, 'only wait till,
some day, one of these warriors, to whom you owe your salvation,
swallows you all up as the stork in the fable gobbled up the frogs.'

"The woman Rochemaure, a _ci-devant_ noble, concubine of Brotteaux, is
not less culpable than he. Not only was she in correspondence with the
foreigner and in the pay of Pitt himself, but in complicity with
swindlers, such as Jullien (of Toulouse) and Chabot, associates of the
_ci-devant_ Baron de Batz, she seconded that reprobate in all sorts of
cunning machinations to depreciate the shares of the Company of the
Indies, buy them in at a cheap price, and then raise the quotation by
artifices of an opposite tendency, to the confusion and ruin of private
fortunes and of the public funds. Incarcerated at La Bourbe and the
Madelonnettes, she never ceased in prison to conspire, to dabble in
stocks and shares and to devote herself to attempts at corruption, to
suborn judges and jury.

"Louis Longuemare, ex-noble, ex-capuchin, had long been practised in
infamy and crime before committing the acts of treason for which he has
to answer here. Living in a shameful promiscuity with the girl Gorcut,
known as Athenais, under Brotteaux's very roof, he is the accomplice of
the said girl and the said _ci-devant_ nobleman. During his
imprisonment at the Conciergerie he has never ceased for one single day
writing pamphlets aimed at the subversion of public liberty and
security.

"It is right to say, with regard to Marthe Gorcut, known as Athenais,
that prostitutes are the greatest scourge of public morality, which they
insult, and the opprobrium of the society which they disgrace. But why
speak at length of revolting crimes which the accused confesses
shamelessly...?"

The accusation then proceeded to pass in review the fifty-four other
prisoners, none of whom either Brotteaux, or the Pere Longuemare, or the
_citoyenne_ Rochemaure, were acquainted with, except for having seen
several of them in the prisons, but who were one and all included with
the first named in "this odious plot, with which the annals of the
nation can furnish nothing to compare."

The piece concluded by demanding the penalty of death for all the
culprits.

Brotteaux was the first to be examined:

"You were in the plot?"

"No, I have been in no plots. Every word is untrue in the act of
accusation I have just heard read."

"There, you see; you are plotting still, at this moment,