of the stairs the women stopped talking. Bowing and crossing

themselves, they entered the empty church, which glistened with

gilding. Crowding and pushing one another, they took their places

After the women came the men condemned to banishment, those

serving their term in the prison, and those exiled by their

Communes; and, coughing loudly, they took their stand, crowding

the left side and the middle of the church.

On one side of the gallery above stood the men sentenced to penal