But having begun, he would not retract, and
he added:
"I implored him to renounce this project of an insurrection."
"Ah! then you knew his wicked intentions?"
"I suspected them."
"Not to reveal a conspiracy makes one an accomplice, and means the
guillotine."
Baron d'Escorval had just signed his death-warrant.
Strange caprice of destiny! He was innocent, and yet he was the only one
among the accused whom a regular tribunal could have legally condemned.
Maurice and the abbe were prostrated with grief; but Chanlouineau, who
turned toward them, had still upon his lips a smile of confidence.
How could he hope when all hope seemed absolutely lost?
But the commissioners made no attempt to conceal their satisfaction. M.
de Sairmeuse, especially, evinced an indecent joy.
"Ah, well! Messieurs?" he said to the lawyers, in a sneering tone.
The counsel for the defence poorly dissimulated their discouragement;
but they nevertheless endeavored to question the validity of such a
declaration on the part of their client. He had said that he _suspected_
the conspiracy, not that he _knew_ it.
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