He is a confirmed drinker, and I mean to tempt him with such wine as he rarely tastes.
If--after the reading of the list in public, and before the marking of the cell doors--I can get him to sit down to the bottle, I will answer for making him drunk, for getting the list out of his pocket, and for wiping your names out of it with the prescription you have just written for me.

I shall write all the names, one under another, just irregularly enough in my duplicate to prevent the interval left by the erasure from being easily observed.

If I succeed in this, your door will not be marked, and your names will not be called to-morrow morning when the tumbrils come for the guillotine.

In the present confusion of prisoners pouring in every day for trial, and prisoners pouring out every day for execution, you will have the best possible chance of security against awkward inquiries, if you play your cards properly, for a good fortnight or ten days at least.

In that time--" "Well! well!" cried Trudaine, eagerly.
Lomaque looked toward the tribunal door, and lowered his voice to a fainter whisper before he continued, "In that time Robespierre's own head may fall into the sack! France is beginning to sicken under the Reign of Terror.