Of the thirty prisoners, nine were declared not guilty, and released.
The remaining twenty-one, and M. d'Escorval and Chanlouineau were among
the number, were condemned to death.
But the smile had not once forsaken Chanlouineau's lips.
CHAPTER XXVIII
The abbe had been right in feeling he could trust the officers to whose
care he had confided Maurice.
Finding their entreaties would not induce him to leave the citadel, they
seized him and literally carried him away. He made the most desperate
efforts to escape; each step was a struggle.
"Leave me!" he exclaimed; "let me go where duty calls me. You only
dishonor me in pretending to save me."
His agony was terrible. He had thrown himself headlong into this absurd
undertaking, and now the responsibility of his acts had fallen upon
his father. He, the culprit, would live, and his innocent father would
perish on the guillotine. It was to this his love for Marie-Anne had led
him, that radiant love which in other days had smiled so joyously.
But our capacity for suffering has its limits.
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