And, indeed, from the beginning the task of the commission seemed difficult. No confessions, no proofs, no witnesses. Bretagne laughed in the commissioners" faces, and when she did not laugh, she threatened.
The president dispatched a courier to Paris to explain the state of things, and get further instructions.
"Judge by their projects," said Dubois; "they may have done little, because they were prevented, but they intended much, and the intention in matters of rebellion is equivalent to the act."
Armed with this terrible weapon, the commission soon overthrew the hopes of the province. There was a terrible audience, in which the accused commenced with raillery and ended with accusation. On re-entering the prison, Pontcalec congratulated them on the truths they had told the judge.
"Nevertheless," said Montlouis, "it is a bad affair. Bretagne does not revolt."
"She waits our condemnation," said Talhouet.
"Then she will revolt somewhat late," said Montlouis.
"But our condemnation may not take place," said Pontcalec. "Say, frankly, we are guilty, but without proofs who will dare to sentence us?
The commission?"
"No, not the commission, but Dubois."
"I have a great mind to do one thing," said Du Couedic.
"What?"
"At the first audience to cry, "Bretagne to the rescue!" Each time we have seen faces of friends; we should be delivered or killed, but at least it would be decided. I should prefer death to this suspense."
"But why run the risk of being wounded by some satellite of justice?"
"Because such a wound might be healed; not so the wound the executioner would make."
"Oh!" said Pontcalec, "you will have no more to do with the executioner than I shall."
"Always the prediction," said Montlouis. "You know that I have no faith in it."
"You are wrong."
"This is sure, my friends," said Pontcalec. "We shall be exiled, we shall be forced to embark, and I shall be lost on the way. This is my fate. But yours may be different. Ask to go by a different vessel from me; or there is another chance. I may fall from the deck, or slip on the steps; at least, I shall die by the water. You know that is certain. I might be condemned to death, taken to the very scaffold, but if the scaffold were on dry ground I should be as easy as I am now."
His tone of confidence gave them courage. They even laughed at the rapidity with which the deliberations were carried on. They did not know that Dubois sent courier after courier from Paris to hasten them.
At length the commission declared themselves sufficiently enlightened, and retired to deliberate in secret session.
Never was there a more stormy discussion. History has penetrated the secrets of these deliberations, in which some of the least bold or least ambitious counselors revolted against the idea of condemning these gentlemen on presumptions which were supported solely by the intelligence transmitted to them by Dubois; but the majority were devoted to Dubois, and the committee came to abuse and quarrels, and almost to blows.
At the end of a sitting of eleven hours" duration, the majority declared their decision.
The commissioners a.s.sociated sixteen others of the contumacious gentlemen with the four chiefs, and declared:
"That the accused, found guilty of criminal projects, of treason, and of felonious intentions, should be beheaded: those present, in person, those absent, in effigy. That the walls and fortifications of their castles should be demolished, their patents of n.o.bility annuled, and their forests cut down to the height of nine feet."
An hour after the delivery of this sentence, an order was given to the usher to announce it to the prisoners.
The sentence had been given after the stormy sitting of which we have spoken, and in which the accused had experienced such lively marks of sympathy from the public. And so, having beaten the judges on all the counts of the indictment, never had they been so full of hope.
They were seated at supper in their common room, calling to mind all the details of the sitting, when suddenly the door opened, and in the shade appeared the pale and stern form of the usher.
The solemn apparition changed, on the instant, into anxious palpitations their pleasant conversation.
The usher advanced slowly, while the jailer remained at the door, and the barrels of muskets were seen shining in the gloom of the corridor.
"What is your will, sir?" asked Pontcalec, "and what signifies this deadly paraphernalia?"
"Gentlemen," said the usher, "I bear the sentence of the tribunal. On your knees and listen."
"How?" said Montlouis, "it is only sentences of death that must be heard kneeling."
"On your knees, gentlemen," replied the usher.
"Let the guilty and the base kneel," said Du Couedic; "we are gentlemen, and innocent. We will hear our sentences standing."
"As you will, gentlemen; but uncover yourselves, for I speak in the king"s name."
Talhouet, who alone had his hat on, removed it. The four gentlemen stood erect and bare-headed, leaning on each other, with pale faces and a smile upon their lips.
The usher read the sentence through, uninterrupted by a murmur, or by a single gesture of surprise.
When he had finished--
"Why was I told," asked Pontcalec, "to declare the designs of Spain against France, and that I should be liberated? Spain was an enemy"s country. I declared what I believed I knew of her projects; and, lo! I am condemned. Why is this? Is the commission, then, composed of cowards who spread snares for the accused?"
The usher made no answer.
"But," added Montlouis, "the regent spared all Paris, implicated in the conspiracy of Cellamare; not a drop of blood was shed. Yet those who wished to carry off the regent, perhaps to kill him, were at least as guilty as men against whom no serious accusations even could be made.
Are we then chosen to pay for the indulgence shown to the capital?"
The usher made no reply.
"You forget one thing, Montlouis," said Du Couedic, "the old family hatred against Bretagne; and the regent, to make people believe that he belongs to the family, wishes to prove that he hates us. It is not we, personally, who are struck at; it is a province, which for three hundred years has claimed in vain its privileges and its rights, and which they wish to find guilty in order to have done with it forever."
The usher preserved a religious silence.
"Enough," said Talhouet, "we are condemned. "Tis well. Now, have we, or have we not, the right of appeal?"
"No, gentlemen," said the usher.
"Then you can retire," said Couedic.
The usher bowed and withdrew, followed by his escort, and the prison door, heavy and clanging, closed once more upon the four gentlemen.
"Well!" said Montlouis, when they were again alone.
"Well, we are condemned," said Pontcalec. "I never said there would be no sentence; I only said it would not be carried into execution."