Seizing Tuez-les-Moines by the other arm, he drew him by force to the trap.
"Quiet, fool," he muttered savagely when the man would have resisted, "and go down! If we stay to kill him, we shall have no way of escape, and his life will be dearly bought.

Down, man, down!" And between them, in a struggling silence, with now and then an audible rap, or a ring of metal, the two forced the desperado to descend.
La Tribe followed hastily.

Tignonville was the last to go.

In the act of disappearing he raised his lanthorn for a last glimpse of the Countess.

To his astonishment the passage was empty; she was gone.