arrival at Paris. At the epoch of which we write, the examination of
judicial affairs followed a very different course from the one now
traced by the French code. It was to the Citoyen Daubenton, justice of
the peace of the division of Pont Neuf, and officer of the _police
judiciare_, that the Central Bureau confided the examination of this
affair. This magistrate having ordered the dismissal of Guesno, told him
that he might present himself at his _cabinet_ on the morrow, for the
papers which had been seized at Chateau-Thierry; at the same time he
ordered an officer, Hendon, to start at once for Mangeron and
Lieursaint, and to bring back the witnesses, whose names he gave him,
so that they might all be collected the next day at the Bureau for
examination.

Guesno, desirous of having his papers as soon as possible, went out
early, and directed his steps towards the Central Bureau, which he had
just reached when he encountered his compatriot Lesurques; having
explained to him the motive that called him to the Bureau, he proposed
to him that they should go together. Lesurques accepted, and the Citizen
Daubenton not having yet arrived, they sat down in the antechamber, in
order to see him as he passed, and thus expedite the matter.

About ten o'clock the judge, who had entered his cabinet by a back door,
was interrupted in his examination of the documents, previous to
interrogating the witnesses, by the officer Hendon, who demanded leave
to make an important communication. "Amongst the witnesses," said he,
"now waiting in the antechamber, are two women--one, _la femme_ Santon,
servant to Evrard the innkeeper at Mongeron--the other, _la fille_
Grossetete, servant to Madame Chatelain the _limonadiere_ at Lieursaint,
who assert in the most positive manner, that two of the assassins are
there, waiting like them to be admitted. These women declare that they