“There is every reason to believe,” he proceeds, “that nothing has been discovered regarding our plot, and that it is merely as the wife of the President of the Massiac Club that she has been put under arrest. At least, I flatter myself that this is so. If I get no news here, I shall set out for the place where news will be forthcoming soonest. Nothing will ever make me abandon our project and the object of our desires. You shall have my news at the earliest possible moment, either from here or from Choram.” Now, on this very day Hébert was mounting the scaffold, a victim to the accusations of Robespierre, whose despotism was triumphant. He who had been to a great extent responsible for looking after Louis XVII. had now fallen in his turn, to be followed a few weeks later (April 13) by his friend Chaumette. Here is what Cormier had to say on the subject--the news had reached him with wonderful speed-- “Robespierre has triumphed over the others, and he has had Hébert, Vincent, etc., arrested and guillotined. Robespierre had declared himself anxious to stop the flow of blood ...; he had spoken up for the prisoners in the Temple. Fresh letters are arriving here. It is certain, I think, that my wife has not yet been charged with anything, or even suspected of anything in regard to the prisoners.” The event was inopportune. Cormier had just decided to leave London for the coast, where he was to receive certain information and to take counsel with his agents. Now his plans were all upset. He would have to postpone the journey and redouble his precautions. At the end of five days there was ground for taking a hopeful view of things. There was every reason to believe that Mme. Cormier’s arrest would not have any grave results. “What annoys me most,” writes Cormier to Lady Atkyns on March 28, “is the fact that the news had got back to Paris, with commentaries which may do harm both to my wife and to our affairs.” As a matter of fact, Peltier and d’Auerweck hastened, on hearing of what had happened, to convey their sympathy to their friend, and, like true journalists, spread the tidings in every direction, thus intensifying Cormier’s uneasiness.