and receiving of Denunciations, Arrest
Orders, and Death Warrants,—the providing
of its doomed human meal for the all-devouring
Guillotine—could have been managed so
coolly and quietly, with such unruffled
calmness of official routine!

"Now," said Lomaque, turning to the
two men at the desk, as the door closed.
"have you got those notes about you?"
(They answered in the affirmative). "Picard,
you have the first particulars of this affair of
Trudaine: so you must begin reading. I
have sent in the reports; but we may as well
go over the evidence again from the
commencement, to make sure that nothing has
been left out. If any corrections are to be
made, now is the time to make them. Read,
Picard, and lose as little time as you possibly
can."

Thus admonished, Picard drew some long
slips of paper from his pocket, and began
reading from them as follows:—

"Minutes of evidence collected concerning Louis
Trudaine, suspected, on the denunciation of Citizen
Superintendent Danville, of hostility to the sacred
cause of liberty, and of disaffection to the sovereignty
of the people. (1.) The suspected person is placed
under secret observation, and these facts are elicited:
—He is twice seen passing at night from his own house
to a house in the Rue de Cléry. On the first night he
carries with him money,—on the second, papers. He
returns without either. These particulars have been
obtained through a citizen engaged to help Trudaine
in housekeeping (one of the sort called Servants in the
days of the Tyrants). This man is a good patriot, who
can he trusted to watch Trudaine's actions. (2.) The
inmates of the house in the Rue de Cléry are numerous,
and in some cases not so well known to the government
as could be wished. It is found difficult to gain
certain information about the person or persons visited
by Trudaine without having recourse to an arrest. (3.)
An arrest is thought premature, at this preliminary stage
of the proceedings, being likely to stop the development
of conspiracy, and give warning to the guilty to
fly. Order thereupon given to watch and wait for the
present. (4.) Citizen-Superintendent Danville quits
Paris for a short time. The office of watching Trudaine
is then taken out of the hands of the undersigned, and
is confided to his comrade, Magloire. Signed, PICARD.
Countersigned, LOMAQUE."

Having read so far, the police-agent placed
his papers on the writing-table, waited a
moment for orders, and, receiving none, went
out. No change came over the sadness and
perplexity of Lomaque's face. He still beat
his nails anxiously on the writing-table, and
did not even look at the second agent, as
he ordered the man to read his report.
Magloire produced some slips of paper
precisely similar to Picard's, and read from them
in the same rapid, business-like, unmodulated
tones:—

"Affair of Trudaine. Minutes continued. Citizen-
Agent Magloire having been appointed to continue the
surveillance of Trudaine, reports the discovery of
additional facts of importance. (1.) Appearances make it
probable that Trudaine meditates a third secret visit to
the house in the Rue de Cléry. The proper measures
are taken for observing him closely, and the result is
the implication of another person discovered to be
connected with the supposed conspiracy. This person is
the sister of Trudaine, and the wife of
Citizen-Superintendent Danville."

"Poor, lost creature!—ah, poor lost creature!"
muttered Lomaque to himself, sighing
again, and shifting uneasily, from side to side,
in his mangy old leathern arm-chair.
Apparently, Magloire was not accustomed to sighs,
interruptions, and expressions of regret, from
the usually imperturbable chief agent. He
looked up from his papers with a stare of
wonder. "Go on, Magloire!" cried Lomaque
with a sudden outburst of irritability. "Why
the devil don't you go on?"—"All ready,
citizen," returned Magloire, submissively, and
proceeded:—

"(2.) It is at Trudaine's house that the woman
Danville's connexion with her brother's secret designs
is ascertained, through the vigilance of the before-
mentioned patriot-citizen. The interview of the two
suspected persons is private; their conversation is carried
on in whispers. Little can be overheard; but that
little suffices to prove that Trudaine's sister is perfectly
aware of his intention to proceed for the third time to
the house in the Rue de Cléry. It is further
discovered that she awaits his return, and that she then
goes back privately to her own house. (3.) Meanwhile,
the strictest measures are taken for watching
the house in the Rue de Cléry. It is discovered that
Trudaine's visits are paid to a man and woman known
to the landlord and lodgers by the name of Dubois.
They live on the fourth floor. It is impossible, at the
time of the discovery, to enter this room, or to see the
citizen and citoyenne Dubois, without producing an
undesirable disturbance in the house and neighbourhood.
A police-agent is left to watch the place, while search and
arrest-orders are applied for. The granting of these is
accidentally delayed. When they are ultimately
obtained, it is discovered that the man and woman are
both missing. They have not hitherto been traced.
(4.) The landlord of the house is immediately arrested,
as well as the police-agent appointed to watch the
premises. The landlord protests that he knows nothing
of his tenants. It is suspected, however, that he has
been tampered with, as also that Trudaine's papers,
delivered to the citizen and citoyenne Dubois, are
forged passports. With these, and with money, it
may not be impossible that they have already
succeeded in escaping from France. The proper measures
have been taken for stopping them, if they have not
yet passed the frontiers. No further report in relation
to them has yet been received. (5.) Trudaine and his
sister are under perpetual surveillance; and the under-
signed holds himself ready for further orders. Signed,
MAGLOIRE. Countersigned, LOMAQUE."

Having finished reading his notes, Magloire
placed them on the writing-table. He was
evidently a favoured man in the office, and
he presumed upon his position; for he
ventured to make a remark, instead of leaving
the room in silence, like his predecessor,
Picard.

"When citizen Danville returns to Paris,"
he began, "he will be rather astonished to
find that in denouncing his wife's brother,
he has also unconsciously denounced his
wife."