Again, and for the last
time, retire, or I shall be obliged to employ force."
What would further resistance avail? Nothing. The abbe, with a face
whiter than the plastered walls, and eyes filled with tears, came back
to his place beside Maurice.
The lawyers, meanwhile, were uttering their protests with increasing
energy. But the duke, by a prolonged hammering upon the table with his
fists, at last succeeded in reducing them to silence.
"Ah! you wish testimony!" he exclaimed. "Very well, you shall have it.
Soldiers, bring in the first witness."
A movement among the guards, and almost immediately Chupin appeared.
He advanced deliberately, but his countenance betrayed him. A close
observer could have read his anxiety and his terror in his eyes, which
wandered restlessly about the room.
And there was a very appreciable terror in his voice when, with hand
uplifted, he swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth.
"What do you know regarding the prisoner d'Escorval?" demanded the duke.
"I know that he took part in the rebellion on the night of the fourth.
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