He cast it aside and took up another with no better luck.

To crumple discarded papers seemed the habit of the Incorruptible, for there was a very litter of them on the ground.

One after another did Caron investigate without success.

He was on his knees now, and his exploration had carried him as far as the table; another moment and he was grovelling under it, still at his search, which with each fresh disappointment grow more feverish.
Yonder--by the leg of the Incorruptible's chair--he espied the ball of paper, and to reach it he stretched to his full length, lying prone beneath a table in an attitude scarce becoming a Deputy of the French Republic.

But it was worth the effort and the disregard of dignity, for when presently on his knees he smoothed out that document, he discovered it to be the one he sought the order upon the gaolers of the Luxembourg to set at liberty a person or persons whose names were to be filled in, signed by Maximilien Robespierre.
He rose, absorbed in his successful find, and he pursued upon the table the process of smoothing the creases as much as possible from that priceless document.