Restoration.  At the time of the celebrated rising at Montaignac, he was arrested on the double charge of high treason and conspiracy.  He was tried by a military commission, and condemned to death.  The sentence was not executed, however.  He owed his life to the noble devotion and heroic energy of a priest, one of his friends, the Abbe Midon, cure of the little village of Sairmeuse.  The baron d’Escorval had only one son, who embraced the judicial profession at a very early age.”

Lecoq was intensely disappointed.  “I understand,” he remarked.  “This is the biography of our magistrate’s father.  Only I don’t see that it teaches us anything.”

An ironical smile curved old Tirauclair’s lips.  “It teaches us that M. d’Escorval’s father was condemned to death,” he replied.  “That’s something, I assure you.  A little patience, and you will soon know everything.”

Having found a new leaf, he recommenced to read:  “Sairmeuse (Anne-Marie-Victor de Tingry, Duc de).—­A French general and politician, born at the chateau de Sairmeuse, near Montaignac, in 1758.  The Sairmeuse family is one of the oldest and most illustrious in France.  It must not be confounded with the ducal family of Sermeuse, whose name is written with an ‘e.’  Leaving France at the beginning of the Revolution, Anne de Sairmeuse began by serving in the army of Conde.  Some years later he offered his sword to Russia; and it is asserted by some of his biographers that he was fighting in the Russian ranks at the time of the disastrous retreat from Moscow.  Returning to France with the Bourbons, he became notorious by the intensity of his ultra-royalist opinions.  It is certain that he had the good fortune to regain possession of his immense family estates; and the rank and dignities which he had gained in foreign lands were confirmed.  Appointed by the king to preside at the military commission charged with arresting and trying the conspirators of Montaignac his zeal and severity resulted in the capture and conviction of all the parties implicated.”

Lecoq sprang up with sparkling eyes.  “I see it clearly now,” he exclaimed.  “The father of the present Duc de Sairmeuse tried to have the father of the present M. d’Escorval beheaded.”

M. Tabaret was the picture of complacency.  “You see the assistance history gives,” said he.  “But I have not finished, my boy; the present Duc de Sairmeuse also has his article which will be of interest to us.  So listen:  Sairmeuse (Anne-Marie-Martial)—­Son of the preceding, was born in London toward the close of the last century; received his early education in England, and completed it at the Court of Austria, which he subsequently visited on several confidential missions.  Heir to the opinions, prejudices, and animosities of his father, he placed at the service of his party a highly cultivated intellect, unusual penetration, and extraordinary abilities.  A leader at a time when political passion was raging highest, he had the courage to assume the sole responsibility of the most unpopular measures.  The hostility he encountered, however eventually obliged him to retire from office, leaving behind him animosities likely to terminate only with his life.”