CHAPTER II.
DEATH SPEAKS.
The mother watched this dark object pass by, but had not understood it, nor tried to understand, for she had another vision before her eyes,—her children lost in the darkness.
She also went out of the village, a little after the procession which had just filed past, and followed the same road, at some distance behind the second squad of policemen. Suddenly, the word "guillotine" came into her mind.
"Guillotine!" she said to herself; this peasant woman Michelle Fléchard, did not know what it was, but her instinct warned her against it; she shuddered without being able to tell why; it seemed horrible to her to walk behind it, and she turned to the left, went out of the road and entered some woods, which were the forest of Fougères.
After roaming for some time, she noticed a church tower and some roofs; it was one of the villages on the borders of the wood; she entered it. She was hungry.
This village was one of those where the Republicans had established military posts.
She went as far as the square where the town hall was.
In this village, too, there was agitation and anxiety. A crowd was gathered in front of a flight of steps which were the entrance to the town hall. On these steps were seen a man escorted by soldiers, holding in his hand a large, unrolled placard. On this man's right stood a drummer, and on his left, a bill-poster carrying a pot of paste and a brush.
On the balcony above the door stood the mayor, wearing a tricolored scarf with his peasant's dress.
The man with the placard was a public crier.
He had on a shoulder belt from which hung a little bag,
