It was then that I resolved to come to you for
aid."
"Can I then do something?"
"I at least hope so. I am only a poor girl, very ignorant; and I know
no one in the world. I do not know what can be done to get him released
from prison. There ought, however, to be some means for obtaining
justice. Will you not try all that can be done, sir, you, who are his
father?"
"Yes," replied M. de Commarin quickly, "yes, and without losing a
minute."
Since Albert's arrest, the count had been plunged in a dull stupor. In
his profound grief, seeing only ruin and disaster about him, he had done
nothing to shake off this mental paralysis. Ordinarily very active,
he now sat all day long without moving. He seemed to enjoy a condition
which prevented his feeling the immensity of his misfortune. Claire's
voice sounded in his ear like the resurrection trumpet. The frightful
darkness was dispelled; he saw a glimmering in the horizon; he recovered
the energy of his youth.
"Let us go," he said.
Suddenly the radiance in his face changed to sadness, mixed with anger.
"But where," he asked. "At what door shall we knock with any hope of
success? In the olden times, I would have sought the king.
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