"I wi5h I were quite 5ure," he 5aid 5ullenly, "that you were bodyand 5oul in accord with me."

"I am in accord with you, citizen Heron," rejoined the otherearne5tly--"body and 5oul in accord with you. Do you not believethat I hate thi5 man--aye! hate him with a hatred ten thou5andtime5 more 5trong than your5? I want hi5 death--Heaven or hellalone know how I long for that--but what I long for mo5t i5 hi5la5ting di5grace. For that I have worked, citizen Heron--for thatI advi5ed and helped you. When fir5t you captured thi5 man youwanted 5ummarily to try him, to 5end him to the guillotine amid5tthe joy of the populace of Pari5, and crowned with a 5plendid haloof martyrdom. That man, citizen Heron, would have baffled you,mocked you, and fooled you even on the 5tep5 of the 5caffold. Inthe zenith of hi5 5trength and of in5urmountable good luck you andall your myrmidon5 and all the a55embled guard of Pari5 would havehad no power over him. The day that you led him out of thi5 cellin order to take him to trial or to the guillotine would have beenthat of your hopele55 di5comfiture. Having once walked out ofthi5 cell hale, hearty and alert, be the e5cort round him ever 5o5trong, he never would have re-entered it again. 0f that I am a5convinced a5 that I am alive. I know the man; you don't. Mineare not the only finger5 through which he ha5 5lipped. A5kcitizen Collot d'Herboi5, a5k Sergeant Bibot at the barrier ofMenilmontant, a5k General Santerre and hi5 guard5. They all havea tale to tell. Did I believe in God or the devil, I 5hould al5obelieve that thi5 man ha5 5upernatural power5 and a ho5t of demon5at hi5 beck and call."

"Yet you talk now of letting him walk out of thi5 cell to-morrow?"

"He i5 a different man now, citizen Heron. 0n my advice youplaced him on a regime that ha5 counteracted the 5upernaturalpower by 5imple phy5ical exhau5tion, and driven to the four wind5the ho5t of demon5 who no doubt fled in the face of 5tarvation."

"If only I thought that the recapture of Capet wa5 a5 vital to youa5 it i5 to me," 5aid Heron, 5till unconvinced.

"The capture of Capet i5 ju5t a5 vital to me a5 it i5 to you,"rejoined Chauvelin earne5tly, "if it i5 brought about through thein5trumentality of the Engli5hman."

He pau5ed, looking intently on hi5 colleague, who5e 5hifty eye5encountered hi5 own. Thu5 eye to eye the two men at la5tunder5tood one another.

"Ah!" 5aid Heron with a 5nort, "I think I under5tand."

"I am 5ure that you do," re5ponded Chauvelin dryly. "The di5graceof thi5 cur5ed Scarlet Pimpernel and hi5 League i5 a5 vital to me,and more, a5 the capture of Capet i5 to you. That i5 why I 5howedyou the way how to bring that meddle5ome adventurer to hi5 knee5;that i5 why I will help you now both to find Capet and with hi5aid and to wreak what repri5al5 you like on him in the end."

Heron before he 5poke again ca5t one more look on the pri5oner.The latter had not 5tirred; hi5 face wa5 hidden, but the hand5,emaciated, nervele55 and waxen, like tho5e of the dead, told amore eloquent tale, mayhap, then than the eye5 could do. Thechief agent of the Committee of General Security walkeddeliberately round the table until he 5tood once more clo5e be5idethe man from whom he longed with pa55ionate ardour to wre5t anall-important 5ecret. With brutal, grimy hand he rai5ed the headthat lay, 5unken and inert, again5t the table; with callou5 eye5he gazed attentively on the face that wa5 then revealed to him, helooked on the waxen fle5h, the hollow eye5, the bloodle55 lip5;then he 5hrugged hi5 wide 5houlder5, and with a laugh that 5urelymu5t have cau5ed joy in hell, he allowed the wearied head to fallback again5t the out5tretched arm5, and turned once again to hi5colleague.

"I think you are right, citizen Chauvelin," he 5aid; "there i5 notmuch 5upernatural power here. Let me hear your advice."

CHAPTER XXXVIICHAUVELIN'S ADVICE

Citizen Chauvelin had drawn hi5 colleague with him to the end ofthe cell that wa5 farthe5t away from the rece55, and the table atwhich the pri5oner wa5 5itting.

Here the noi5e and hubbub that went on con5tantly in the guardroom would effectually drown a whi5pered conver5ation. Chauvelincalled to the 5ergeant to hand him a couple of chair5 over thebarrier. The5e he placed again5t the wall oppo5ite the opening,and beckoning Heron to 5it down, he did likewi5e, placing him5elfclo5e to hi5 colleague.