In tense silence the foreman of the jury rose.
"In the presence of God and man, and upon my honour and my conscience, I declare that the answer of a majority of the jury is 'yes' to all the questions submitted to them."
Then he sat down: he had made no mention of extenuating circumstances.
The words of the fatal verdict fell like a knell in the silent Court of Assize, and many a face went white.
"Have you anything to say before sentence is passed?"
In rapid tones the President read the formal pronouncement of the Court. It seemed horribly long and unintelligible, but presently the President's voice became slower as it reached the fatal words: there was a second's pause, and then he reached the point:
"--the sentence on the prisoner Gurn is death."
And almost simultaneously he gave the order:
Juve, who had returned to court with Fandor, spoke to the young journalist.
"'Gad!" he exclaimed, "I know what pluck is. That man is a truly remarkable man: he never turned a hair!"
The final curtain had fallen upon the first performance of the new drama at the Grand Treteau.
The night had been one long triumph for Valgrand, and although it was very late the Baronne de Vibray, who plumed herself on being the great tragedian's dearest friend, had made her way behind the scenes to lavish praise and congratulations on him, and have a little triumph of her own in presenting her friends to the hero of the hour. In vain had Charlot, the old dresser, tried to prevent her invasion of his master's dressing-room. He was not proof against her perseverance, and ere long she had swept into the room with the proud smile of a general entering a conquered town. The Comte de Baral, a tall young man with a single eyeglass, followed close in her wake.
"Will you please announce us," he said to the dresser.
Charlot hesitated a moment in surprise, then broke into voluble explanations.
"M. Valgrand is not here yet. What, didn't you know? Why, at the end of the performance the Minister of Public Instruction sent for him to congratulate him! That's a tremendous honour, and it's the second time it has been paid to M. Valgrand."
Meanwhile the other two ladies in the party were roaming about the dressing-room: Mme. Simone Holbord, wife of a colonel of the Marines who had just covered himself with distinction in the Congo, and the Comtesse Marcelline de Baral.