Come along, come along with me to the commissary." She had risen, and was making her way to the staircase.
"That's it," stammered Laurent, "let's go together." When they were down in the shop they looked at once another, anxious and alarmed.

It seemed as though they were riveted to the ground.

The few seconds they had taken to run downstairs had suffered to show them, as in a flash, all the consequences of a confession.

They saw at the same moment, suddenly and distinctly: gendarmes, prison, assize-court and guillotine.

This made them feel faint, and they were tempted to throw themselves on their knees, one before the other, to implore one another to remain, and reveal nothing.