"A short indictment," he said, when Chauvelin, after a lengthy
discussion on various points, finally rose to take his leave, "but a
scathing one! I tell you, citizen Chauvelin, that to-morrow you will be
the first to congratulate me on an unprecedented triumph."

He had been arguing in favour of a sensational trial and no less
sensational execution. Chauvelin, with his memory harking back on many
mysterious abductions at the very foot of the guillotine, would have
liked to see his elusive enemy quietly put to death amongst a batch of
traitors, who would help to mask his personality until after the
guillotine had fallen, when the whole of Paris should ring with the
triumph of this final punishment of the hated spy.

In the end, the two friends agreed upon a compromise, and parted well
pleased with the turn of events which a kind Fate had ordered for their
own special benefit.

X

Thus satisfied, Chauvelin returned to the Abbaye. Hebert was safe and
trustworthy, but Hebert, too, had been assailed with the same doubts
which had well-nigh wrecked Chauvelin's triumph, and with such doubts in
his mind he might slacken his vigilance.

Name of a name! every man in charge of that damnable Scarlet Pimpernel
should have three pairs of eyes wherewith to watch his movements. He
should have the alert brain of a Robespierre, the physical strength of a
Danton, the relentlessness of a Marat. He should be a giant in sheer
brute force, a tiger in caution, an elephant in weight, and a mouse in
stealthiness!