It goes to my heart," he went on with a sneer, "to be obliged to do my duty; but however unpleasant it is, it must be done.

Citizens," he said, raising his voice, "I want two men well disposed to the state." As to be ill disposed meant danger if not death, several men within hearing at once came forward.
"This female citizen is an aristocrat in disguise," he went on, pointing to Marie; "in virtue of my office as deputy of Dijon and member of the Committee of Public Safety, I arrest her and give her into your charge.

Where is the person who was with her?
Seize her also on a charge of harbouring an enemy of the state!" But Louise was gone.

The moment Lebat had looked round in search of assistance Marie had whispered in Louise's ear: "Fly, Louise, for the sake of the children; if you are arrested they are lost!" Had she herself been alone concerned, the old woman would have stood by Marie and shared her fate; but the words "for the sake of the children" decided her, and she had instantly slipped away among the crowd, whose attention had been called by Lebat's first words, and dived into a small shop, where she at once began to bargain for some eggs.
"Where is the woman ?" Lebat repeated angrily.
"What is she like ?" one of the bystanders asked.
But Lebat could give no description whatever of her.

He had noticed that Marie was speaking to some one when he first caught sight of her face; but he had noticed nothing more, and did not know whether the woman was young or old.
"I can't tell you," he said in a tone of vexation.