The first measure to be taken was evidently the deposition of the President of the Republic by virtue of Article 68 of the Constitution.  Some Representatives of the party which was called Burgraves sat round a table and prepared the deed of deposition.

As they were about to read it aloud a Representative who came in from out of doors appeared at the door of the room, and announced to the Assembly that the Rue de Lille was becoming filled with troops, and that the house was being surrounded.

There was not a moment to lose.

M. Benoist-d’Azy said, “Gentlemen, let us go to the Mairie of the tenth arrondissement; there we shall be able to deliberate under the protection of the tenth legion, of which our colleague, General Lauriston, is the colonel.”

M. Daru’s house had a back entrance by a little door which was at the bottom of the garden.  Most of the Representatives went out that way.

M. Daru was about to follow them.  Only himself, M. Odilon Barrot, and two or three others remained in the room, when the door opened.  A captain entered, and said to M. Daru,—­

“Sir, you are my prisoner.”

“Where am I to follow you?” asked M. Daru.

“I have orders to watch over you in your own house.”

The house, in truth, was militarily occupied, and it was thus that M. Daru was prevented from taking part in the sitting at the Mairie of the tenth arrondissement.

The officer allowed M. Odilon Barrot to go out.

CHAPTER XI.

THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

While all this was taking place on the left bank of the river, towards noon a man was noticed walking up and down the great Salles des Pas Perdus of the Palace of Justice.  This man, carefully buttoned up in an overcoat, appeared to be attended at a distance by several possible supporters—­for certain police enterprises employ assistants whose dubious appearance renders the passers-by uneasy, so much so that they wonder whether they are magistrates or thieves.  The man in the buttoned-up overcoat loitered from door to door, from lobby to lobby, exchanging signs of intelligence with the myrmidons who followed him; then came back to the great Hall, stopping on the way the barristers, solicitors, ushers, clerks, and attendants, and repeating to all in a low voice, so as not to be heard by the passers-by, the same question.  To this question some answered “Yes,” others replied “No.”  And the man set to work again, prowling about the Palace of Justice with the appearance of a bloodhound seeking the trail.

He was a Commissary of the Arsenal Police.

What was he looking for?

The High Court of Justice.

What was the High Court of Justice doing?

It was hiding.

Why?  To sit in Judgment?

Yes and no.