Pagina 717 van 896

He always remembered with fear and trembling, that that terrible

woman had knitted when he talked with her, and had looked

ominously at him as her fingers moved. He had since seen her, in

the Section of Saint Antoine, over and over again produce her

knitted registers, and denounce people whose lives the guillotine

then surely swallowed up. He knew, as every one employed as he

was did, that he was never safe; that flight was impossible; that

he was tied fast under the shadow of the axe; and that in spite

of his utmost tergiversation and treachery in furtherance of the

reigning terror, a word might bring it down upon him. Once

denounced, and on such grave grounds as had just now been

suggested to his mind, he foresaw that the dreadful woman of

whose unrelenting character he had seen many proofs, would

produce against him that fatal register, and would quash his last

chance of life.