present at the execution."

"Will you tell me this man's name?"

"Charles Nodier."

"Charles Nodier, the novelist, the poet?"

"If he were a historian I would not be so insistent, sir. Recently,
during a trip to Varennes, I learned what dependence to place
upon historians. But precisely because he is a poet, a novelist,
I do insist."

"You are at liberty to do so; but I know nothing of what you
desire to learn, and I dare even assert that, if you have come
to Bourg solely to obtain information concerning the execution
of--what did you call them?"

"Guyon, Lepretre, Amiet, and Hyvert."

"You have undertaken a futile voyage. For these last twenty years,
sir, I have been searching the town archives, and I have never
seen anything relating to what you have just told me."

"The town archives are not those of the registrar, sir; perhaps
at the record office I may be able to find what I am seeking."

"Ah! sir, if you can find anything among those archives you will
be a very clever man! The record office is a chaos, a veritable
chaos. You would have to spend a month here, and then--then--"