It was true. There were only women in the cart. "Only women! My God, what a relief!" exclaimed Clarisse leaving the window. But she suddenly realised that her mother's heart had made her selfish and inhuman, and with joined hands she implored pardon of those unfortunate victims. She had fallen on her knees again, her head on the back of a chair, thoroughly prostrate with exhaustion. Robespierre was now preoccupied with thoughts of Olivier. He was not in the tumbrils! Where was he, then? Confiding Clarisse to the young girl's care, he took his hat to go. "Whoever you are, sir, may God bless you!" said Thérèse with a long look of gratitude. Robespierre turned and looked earnestly at her. He tried to speak, but his voice failed him. Feeling his eyes fill with tears, he hurried from the room. Vague, far-away murmurs came to them from the distance, then ceased entirely, while the belfry clock of Saint Gervais struck six. CHAPTER XI "ALL THESE GLIDING GHOSTS" On the stairs Robespierre met Urbain who was just coming up. "Quick! fetch me a hackney-coach!" he called. The man turned and hurried down the stairs two steps at a time. A fiacre was crossing the street, crawling as if waiting for a fare, and the driver cynically inquired if he should take him to the scaffold. "Place du Trône Renversé, _citoyen_? The fun hasn't commenced yet!" Urbain opened the door while Robespierre gave the address: "To the Committee of Public Safety! and make haste!" He then threw himself back in the carriage, which turned round, and rolled rapidly in the direction of the Tuileries. The Incorruptible would soon have the key to the mystery! The police-agent of the Committee, Coulongeau, could tell him at once where to find Olivier. He would wring the secret from him by force if necessary! When he arrived at the Tuileries, Robespierre looked vainly for the police-agent; he wandered from room to room, questioning every one he met, putting the whole official staff at their wits' end, but no Coulongeau was to be found. The absence of the police-agent confirmed Robespierre's suspicions. Olivier must then be at the Conciergerie under guard. "Oh! I can be there in time!" he thought, and leaving the Tuileries, he went home to supper at the Duplays. It was now seven. The family, who had waited supper for Robespierre and Lebas, were growing anxious, as they knew that the sitting of the Convention had been long finished. Duplay, who had just returned from the Revolutionary Tribunal, took an optimistic view of things. The sitting had been certainly a failure for Robespierre, but he was not a man to be trifled with! He would promptly retaliate, and assuredly the meeting at the Jacobin Club that evening would turn the tables upon his foes. The women with one consent decided to attend, feeling it was but right to show their sympathy, though Duplay raised a few feeble objections, mainly as a matter of form.