“Examine this corner.  The prisoner glanced involuntarily in this direction when he came down; I have watched him, and it is the only sign he has given.  I was the only person who could see him, and he did not see me.  He is very clever, but one can’t be for ever on one’s guard, and may the devil take me if I haven’t scented the hiding-place.”

“Wretch!” said Derues to himself, “then you have had your hand on me for a whole hour, and amused yourself by prolonging my agony!  Oh!  I ought to have known it; I have found my master.  Never mind, you shall learn nothing from my face, nor yet from the decaying body you will find; worms and poison can only have left an unrecognisable corpse.”

An iron rod sunk into the ground, encountered a hard substance some four feet below.  Two men set to work, and dug with energy.  Every eye was fixed upon this trench increasing in depth with every shovelful of earth which the two labourers cast aside.  Monsieur de Lamotte was nearly fainting, and his emotion impressed everyone except Derues.  At length the silence was broken by the spades striking heavily on wood, and the noise made everyone shudder.  The chest was uncovered and hoisted out of the trench; it was opened, and the body of a woman was seen, clad only in a chemise, with a red and white headband, face downwards.  The body was turned over, and Monsieur de Lamotte recognised his wife, not yet disfigured.

The feeling of horror was so great that no one spoke or uttered a sound.  Derues, occupied in considering the few chances which remained to him, had not observed that, by the officer’s order, one of the guards had left the cellar before the men began to dig.  Everybody had drawn back both from the corpse and the murderer, who alone had not moved, and who was repeating prayers.  The flame of the torches placed on the ground cast a reddish light on this silent and terrible scene.

Derues started and turned round on hearing a terrified cry behind him.  His wife had just been brought to the cellar.  The commissioner seized her with one hand, and taking a torch in the other, compelled her to look down on the body.

“It is Madame de Lamotte!” she exclaimed.

“Yes, yes,” she answered, overwhelmed with terror,—­“yes, I recognise her!”

Unable to support the sight any longer, she grew pale and fainted away.  She and her husband were removed separately.  One would have supposed the discovery was already known outside, for the people showered curses and cries of “Assassin!” and “Poisoner!” on the carriage which conveyed Derues.  He remained silent during the drive, but before re-entering his dungeon, he said—­

“I must have been mad when I sought to hide the death and burial of Madame de Lamotte from public knowledge.  It is the only sin I have committed, and, innocent of aught else, I resign myself as a Christian to the judgment of God.”