Robespierre appeared in the tribune. The Bill was voted. The next day several attempts were made in the Convention to repeal the atrocious law which brought the Terror into their very midst, but all such efforts failed. With so trenchant a law, a two-edged weapon which could be turned at will either against the Committee of Public Safety or against the Convention, according to the intricate windings of his subtle policy, with such a weapon Robespierre could keep his enemies of the Committee at bay. He had in future but to accuse them, and have them replaced by creatures of his own, satellites of his will. However, all was going well. His adversaries, blind and unwary, had begun to tear each other to pieces in party disputes, and to split up into factions, the very day after the passing of the atrocious law which made him so dreaded. The Incorruptible tried to take advantage of these cabals, but he was too hasty. The Committee, realising their danger, united against him; and this was the prelude to a terrible and decisive struggle, for in case of failure there remained nothing for Robespierre but to have recourse to force. Realising this to the full, he no longer attended the sittings of the Committee, but worked silently in the shade, preparing the _coup d'état_ which was to rid him at once and for ever of all his enemies,--with Saint-Just, whom he had sent for from the Northern Army, with Hauriot, Commander-in-Chief of the armed force; Fleuriot-Lescot, Mayor of Paris; Payan, Agent of the Commune; and Dumas, President; and Coffinhal, Vice-President of the Revolutionary Tribunal. His design was very simple. He would denounce his adversaries of the Committee of Public Safety at the bar of the Convention and ask for their arrest and judgment. Should the Convention resist, he would subdue them with the help of Hauriot and his troops, and of all sections of the Commune, who on a sign from him and from Fleuriot, Payan, Dumas, Coffinhal, and their friends, would be stirred to insurrection, and would take the Tuileries by storm. As to Olivier and the two women, they were always under his hand. Olivier, at La Force Prison, was in no way disturbed. Clarisse and Thérèse had been kept at La Bourbe by his orders. Twice the names of Olivier's mother and _fiancée_ had appeared on the list of the Revolutionary Tribunal, and twice their names had been struck off by Robespierre, who, anxious and watchful, took care that all lists should be submitted to him.