The mask of good-nature
had dropped from the convict's face; from the unmistakable ferocity of
that sinister look, Poiret felt that the old maid was in danger, and
hastily stepped between them. None of the lodgers understood this
scene in the least, they looked on in mute amazement. There was a
pause. Just then there was a sound of tramping feet outside; there
were soldiers there, it seemed, for there was a ring of several rifles
on the pavement of the street. Collin was mechanically looking round
the walls for a way of escape, when four men entered by way of the
sitting-room.
"In the name of the King and the Law!" said an officer, but the words
were almost lost in a murmur of astonishment.
Silence fell on the room. The lodgers made way for three of the men,
who had each a hand on a cocked pistol in a side pocket. Two
policemen, who followed the detectives, kept the entrance to the
sitting-room, and two more men appeared in the doorway that gave
access to the staircase. A sound of footsteps came from the garden,
and again the rifles of several soldiers rang on the cobblestones
under the window. All chance of salvation by flight was cut off for
Trompe-la-Mort, to whom all eyes instinctively turned.
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