ctive, till the
gendarmes dragged her from her bench and hustled her out of the hall.

The President then proceeded to a brief examination of the rest of the
accused, taking them in the order in which they sat on the tiers of
benches.

One, a man named Navette, pleaded that he could not have plotted in
prison where he had only spent four days. The President observed that
the point deserved to be considered, and begged the _citoyens_ of the
jury to make a note of it. A certain Bellier said the same, and the
President made the same remark to the jury in his favour. This mildness
on the judge's part was interpreted by some as the result of a
praiseworthy scrupulosity, by others as payment due in recognition of
their talents as informers.

The Deputy of the Public Prosecutor spoke next. All he did was to
amplify the details of the act of accusation and then to put the
question:

"Is it proven that Maurice Brotteaux, Louise Rochemaure, Louis
Longuemare, Marthe Gorcut, known as Athenais, Eusebe Rocher, Pierre
Guyton-Fabulet, Marcelline Descourtis, etc., etc., are guilty of
forming a conspiracy, the means whereof are assassination, starvation,
the making of forged assignats and false coin, the depravation of morals
and public spirit; the aim and object, civil war, the abolition of the
National representation, the re-establishment of Royalty?"

The jurors withdrew into the chamber of deliberation. They voted
unanimously in the affirmative, only excepting the cases of the
afore-named Navette and Bellier, whom the President, and following his
lead, the Public Prosecutor, had put, as it were, in a separate class by
themselves.

Gamelin stated the motives for his decision thus:

"The guilt of the accused is self-evident; the safety of the Nation
demands their chastisement, and they ought themselves to desire their
punishment as the only means of expiating their crimes."

The President pronounced sentence in the absence of those it concerned.
In these great days, contrary to what the law prescribed, the condemned
were not called back again to hear their judgment read, no doubt for
fear of the effects of despair on so large a number of prisoners. A
needless apprehension, so extraordinary and so general was the
submissiveness of the victims in those days! The Clerk of the Court came
down to the cells to read the verdict, which was listened to with such
silence and impassivity as made it a common comparison to liken the
cond