"'I am in the Torture-chamber... About me are men dressed in long robes... Their faces are masked... They are binding me to the stool of Question... They are thick ropes... Well, they need them thick for me... But if they think they're going to get anything out of me, they're wrong--altogether wrong!' "The face of Theophrastus was set in an expression of stubborn pride, almost ferocious. Slowly it weakened in intensity as we stood waiting and watching him; then suddenly it changed to an expression of pain, and he uttered an ear-splitting yell. "M. de la Nox and I started back; Marceline uttered a cry. "Plainly M. de la Nox did not expect that yell, for he said in a tone of surprise, 'Why did you yell like that, Cartouche?' "'I yell because it's so awful _not to be able to denounce my accomplices_! Their names are on the tip of my tongue; but they won't come off it! Can't they see that if I don't denounce them, it's because I can't move the tip of my tongue? Why didn't Cartouche move the tip of his tongue? I can't; and it's most unfair!' "M. de la Nox was silent for a while. There was no reason why he should harrow our sensibilities with the pangs of that old-world ruffian. It was bad enough to see the anguished face of Theophrastus. After a while it grew serene again; and M. de la Nox said: "'And what are you doing now, Cartouche?' "'They are leaving me alone,' said Theophrastus. 'Only the doctor and the surgeon are feeling my pulse... They are congratulating themselves on having chosen the torture of the Boot, because it is least dangerous to life, and the least liable to accidents.' "I observed that he spoke in his ordinary voice, that it was not weakened by the pain he had suffered. It seemed as if he only felt it at the moment of its actual infliction, that he did not feel the after pain. "There came another long pause; then suddenly Theophrastus uttered another ear-splitting yell. "'What's the matter now, Cartouche?' said M. de la Nox anxiously. "'It's the tip of my tongue!' cried Theophrastus furiously.' Can't these silly fools see that the names are on the tip of my tongue, and won't come off it? Why don't the idiots take them off it? Is it my fault that Cartouche didn't split?' "'But Cartouche was silent: why are you yelling?' said M. de la Nox. "'_They're torturing Cartouche; but it's Theophrastus Longuet who yells!_' "M. de la Nox seemed thunderstruck by this response. He turned and said to us in a trembling voice: 'Then--then it's _he_ who suffers.'