by the public, and the court was crowded with all the beauty and
fashion of Rouen. Though Jacques Rollet persisted in asserting his
innocence, founding his defense chiefly on circumstances which were
strongly corroborated by the information that had reached De Chaulieu
the preceding evening,--he was convicted.

In spite of the very strong doubts he privately entertained respecting
the justice of the verdict, even De Chaulieu himself, in the first
flush of success, amidst a crowd of congratulating friends, and the
approving smiles of his mistress, felt gratified and happy; his speech
had, for the time being, not only convinced others, but himself;
warmed with his own eloquence, he believed what he said. But when
the glow was over, and he found himself alone, he did not feel so
comfortable. A latent doubt of Rollet's guilt now burnt strongly in
his mind, and he felt that the blood of the innocent would be on his
head. It is true there was yet time to save the life of the prisoner,
but to admit Jacques innocent, was to take the glory out of his own
speech, and turn the sting of his argument against himself. Besides,
if he produced the witness who had secretly given him the information,
he should be self-condemned, for he could not conceal that he had been
aware of the circumstance before the trial.

Matters having gone so far, therefore, it was necessary that Jacques
Rollet should die; so the affair took its course; and early one
morning the guillotine was erected in the court-yard of the jail,
three criminals ascended the scaffold, and three heads fell into the
basket, which were presently afterward, with the trunks that had been
attached to them, buried in a corner of the cemetery.

Antoine de Chaulieu was now fairly started in his career, and his