Jacques-Forget-Not, the avenger of the de Vaudreys, had not been far behind during the pilgrim's tramp across the city. He had in fact sneaked back of him, seen the wanderer enter Henriette's door. Standing at the head of the stair, he could almost overhear stray phrases of their talk, knew that they were quite within his power. The shaggy-haired one fairly gloated in his triumph. "Number One!" he hissed, raising a forefinger in token that de Vaudrey--the first of his Trinity of Hate--was in the net. "Two and Three shall come next!" he whispered savagely, knuckling down two other fingers to mark his vengeance on the Count and Countess. The shaggy-haired Forget-Not hurried down the stairs, his gaunt features baleful with unholy glee. Pointing significantly overhead, he ordered a detail of his guards: "Arrest de Vaudrey and all in that room!" The men at once proceeded to carry out the order. * * * * * The guard captain would have been equally at home in a pirate crew or at a land massacre. Enormous black brows and heavy moustache accentuated his ferocity, the particolored Revolutionary garb and in particular the red-and-white striped pantaloons gave him a bizarre appearance like a pirate chief. The detail were armed with muskets and bayonets. They clattered up the stairs and burst into Henriette's room. The lovers seemed dazed rather than affrighted. They clasped each other again. With a little warning gesture Henriette bade Maurice say nothing when the captain addressed him as de Vaudrey. The villain laid a heavy hand on his victim while two of the soldiers seized and pinioned his arms. "You are under arrest as a returned emigre!" the head pirate said. Then he turned his attention to Henriette who made futile little efforts like a tiny mother wren. "You are also under arrest, Citizeness," said the captain harshly, "for the crime of sheltering a returned aristocrat." "She cannot be blamed," interrupted de Vaudrey. "I entered this place, uninvited." "Silence!" roared the Captain. "Your plea, if any, must be made to the Revolutionary Tribunal." CHAPTER XXIII BEFORE THE DREAD TRIBUNAL That awful Tribunal sat daily. During the height of the Terror, no time was allowed to prisoners for the preparation of their cases--no interval elapsed between the prisoners' arrest and their arraignment. Dispatch--_dispatch_--DISPATCH was the essence of the bloody business, the purpose being to strike terror upon all that opposed the little fanatical minority then in power. Therefore the guard brought Henriette and Maurice directly from their arrest to their trial, and they gazed upon a sight for Gods and men--a travesty on the sacred name of justice. Such scenes would seem unbelievable to us but for the recent events of the Russian Revolution, which prove that in our age also a proletarian dictatorship can be senselessly wicked and cruel.