Then the Carriage
doors were banged to again.
"Do not allow either of the prisoners out again, on peril of your
lives!" came with a vigorous curse from Heron.
After which there was a moment's silence; whispered commands came
spasmodically in deadened sound to her ear.
"Will the key turn?"
"Yes, citizen."
"All secure?"
"Yes, citizen. The prisoner is groaning."
"Let him groan."
"The empty coach, citizen? The horses have been taken out."
"Leave it standing where it is, then; citizen Chauvelin will need
it in the morning."
"Armand," whispered Marguerite inside the coach, "did you see
Percy?"
"It was so dark," murmured Armand feebly; "but I saw him, just
inside the gates, where they had laid him down. I heard him
groaning. Oh, my God!"
"Hush, dear!" she said. "We can do nothing more, only die, as he
lived, bravely and with a smile on our lips, in memory of him."
"Number 35 is wounded, citizen," said one of the men.
"Curse the fool who did the mischief," was the placid response.
"Leave him here with the guard."
"How many of you are there left, then?" asked the same voice a
moment later.
"Only two, citizen; if one whole section remains with me at the
chapel door, and also the wounded man."
"Two are enough for me, and five are not too many at the chapel
door.
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