The mother hands it to him; it is the "History of Clarissa Harlowe." The young girl, extending her hand to receive back the book, adds, undoubtedly with a smile: "That is not 'suspect.'" Lebon deals her a blow with his fist on her stomach which knocks her down; both women are searched and he personally leads them to the guard-room .-- The slightest expression, a gesture, puts him beside himself; any motion that he does not comprehend makes him start, as with an electric shock.

Just arrived at Cambray, he is informed that a woman who had sold a bottle of wine below the maximum, had been released after a proces-verbal.

On reaching the Hotel-de-ville, he shouts out: "Let everybody here pass into the Consistory!" The municipal officer on duty opens a door leading into it.

Lebon, however, not knowing who he is, takes alarm.

"He froths at the mouth," says the municipal officer, "and cries out as if possessed by a demon.