Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 27: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

eee es ae ee ee 14 “ Your tickets, gentlemen?” said one of these. My companion produced two ecards; and we were told to pass on. We ascended the magnifi- cent marble staircase, where there was an array of soldiers on each side, ready to present arms to every one who came in a Peer’s uniform. On gaining the summit of that staircase we passed through two or three rooms; and on reaching a small ante-chamber, which happened to be unoc- cupied, my companion said, “ You may now divest yourself of these:’—and he indicated the false beard, whiskers, and moustache. I speedily followed his counsel; and as there were conveniences for ablution in a corner of this ante-chamber, I hastily dipped a towel in water and applied it to my face: for the gum, now that the false hair was torn off, produced a most un- comfortable sensation. “Come!” said my friend: and we issued from the ante-chamber. | Emerging into a passage, my companion was about to draw aside a large heavy red curtain with a gold fringe, which covered a doorway—when a gendarme abruptly made his appearance ; and in a moment I recognised him to be one of those who had removed me from the Prefecture to the Con- ciergerie. I saw too that the recognition was mutual: for the man literally staggered back in amazement. I lost not however my presence of “mind: for never was it more wanted ! “ What means this?” demanded the police- official, recovering his own self-possession almost as speedily as I had regained mine: and he seized me by the arm. “ He is wanted here,” said my companion : “ or else how do you think that he could be in this place ?” “True! said the gendarme: and at the same instant my arm was released from his gripe. My companion pushed me forward—the curtain was drawn back—a door covered with red cloth, rolled noiselessly on its hinges—and I found my- self in the Chamber of Peers. It was a large semicircular hall, handsomely fitted up. In the middle of the line cutting off the semicircle, was an elevated platform richly carpeted, and reached by a flight of steps on either side. In an arm-chair on this platform, the Chancellor of: France was seated in his robes at a desk: immediately in front of him, but a little lower than the desk, was the tribune from wliuch the Peers were accustomed to speak. The benches rose amphitheatrically and in semicircles from the front of this tribune, towards the farther ex- tremity. The front bench was occupied by about thirty prisoners, being those who were arrested on “the memorable night at the meeting-place,—the remaining persons who were present on that ocea- sion, having contrived to effect their escape in the confusion created by the desperate scuffling in the midst of which, be it recollected, I had been borne away. And amongst these prisoners my glance at once singled out Hugenie Delacour—and the next moment the Marquis de Paulin: for they were seated together. All the other benches were occu- pied by the Peers in their uniforms; and the galleries were thronged with spectators—most of them by their appearance pertaining to the higher order of society. I must add that in the small open space between the front of the tribune and ~ ee ne | I eee are. eee ere Se eT Se SE re ee en ern et eee at re JOSEPH WILMOT; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. —_———~ the seat occupied by the prisoners, a long table had been temporarily placed; and this was for the accommodation of the counsel engaged in behalf of the aceused. The door by which my com- panion and myself had just entered, opened close by the presidential seat; and as there was a throng of ushers, gendarmes, and other officials imme- diately inside, we became for the first few mo- ments mingled amongst them, so that we were not at once perceived by any of the prisoners. At the instant we thus entered, the barrister whom the Duke de Paulin had engaged for the de- fence of his son, was addressing the President ; and as he spoke in a clear, deliberate, measured manner, [ caught and perfectly comprehended what he was saying. “TI object to sentence being pronounced on my client,” were the words thus caught, “ because I repeat what I urged on a former occasion—that he has not received a fair trial. A witness of most material consequence was spirited away—a young Englishman, who, though himself impli- cated in the general charge, could have thrown such light on the foul proceedings of the spy Cresson, that the law-oflicers of the Crown would never have dxred sustain a prosecution on the testimony of the government’s dastard hireling.” “T cannot permit you,” interrupted the Presi- dent, “thus to attack the witness Cresson, who denied upon oath the imputation of having with his own hands conveyed the arms and ammunition to the place of meeting.” “Remain here one moment,’ said my com- panion to me in a hurried whisper: and leaving me amidst the throng just within the red door, he advanced towards the table and spoke a few words in a low tone to the barrister. “ Monsieur le President,” the legal gentleman almost immediately went on to say, “I have now the best possible reason in the world for objecting to sentence being pronounced upon my client,—a reason, too, which every other counsel at this table will with equal justice advance on behalf of their own clients. And the reason is, Monsieur le President, that the missing Englishman must be produced—Joseph Wilmot must stand forward to give his testimony. The law officers of the Crown have not chosen to.include his name in the indict- ment—he is therefore eligible as a witness—and I summon him—he will stand forward he is here !’’, No pen can describe the immensity of the sensation which suddenly prevailed within the hall of the Luxembourg, as the barrister, with his fine sonorous voice swelling exultingly as he went on, grave utterance to those last words. At the same moment, too, I stood forward from amidst the group at the door: I advanced to the table—and all in an instant many phases of interest were pre- sented to my vision. I saw the quick start which galvanised all the prisoners—I beheld the rapid looks of joy and mutual congratulation which were exchanged by Eugenie and Theobald—I ob- served, as my eyes swept round, the astonishment which seized upon the Chancellor of France—I observed also the utter discomfiture which smote the quailing Cresson, who was seated on a bench just beneath the tribune. As for my own feelings, they were as completely beyond description as the general sensation itself was. The Peers were for ; CORnANIClOOKS (C = 7 . tS * com