"
She was obeyed. The carriage turned and rolled away, but not so quickly
that Marie-Anne failed to hear Blanche cry:
"Beware, Marie! I will make you pay dearly for your insulting
patronage!"
The hours were flying by. This incident had occupied ten minutes
more--ten centuries--and the last trace of order had disappeared.
M. Lacheneur could have wept with rage. He called Maurice and
Chanlouineau.
"I place you in command," said he; "do all that you can to hurry these
idiots onward. I will ride as fast as I can to the Croix d'Arcy."
He started, but he was only a short distance in advance of his followers
when he saw two men running toward him at full speed. One was clad in
the attire of a well-to-do bourgeois; the other wore the old uniform of
captain in the Emperor's guard.
"What has happened?" Lacheneur cried, in alarm.
"All is discovered!"
"Great God!"
"Major Carini has been arrested."
"By whom? How?"
"Ah! there was a fatality about it! Just as we were perfecting our
arrangements to capture the Duc de Sairmeuse, the duke surprised us.
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