‘Did it look like this one, but smaller?’ The laughter reverberated through the small, smoke-filled room. He then took hold of the chamberpot and began to fill it, not several feet from the door. ‘Eh, do I give you offence, citizeness?’ He raised his dark eyes to me in sinister fashion. ‘You think you pass for an honest woman? Shall we see what offence it gives you to be made good use of?’

Their laughter and jeers continued until eventually they tired of their sport and returned to their games of chance. I passed much of the day too terrified to so much as raise my head, lest I should draw their notice. It was only when the captain who had made my arrest returned to my cell that I dared move. Upon hearing his voice I jumped to my feet. He came directly to me and for a moment I believed I was to be released.

‘Your maid Thérèse Bertrand has run off, citizeness,’ said he. ‘Can you think why?’

I shook my head vigorously, for this news gave me a shock and I was now more frightened than ever of recriminations.

He regarded me through narrowed eyes.

‘She has not been dispatched on some urgent errand for you?’

‘No, captain! I swear I know not what is the cause of her flight,’ I protested, my throat tight.

‘To pretend to ignorance will be of no assistance to you when you are brought to trial, citizeness. It is best to confess all you know. You spare no one by your protests. You are to be brought to the Mairie, where you will be examined and your fate decided.’

‘Pray, monsieur, you take me for something I am not. I am no conspirator! I am a friend to Citizen Égalité,’ I cried in a thin, quavering tone. ‘Pray, captain, pray you alert him to this injustice, for I am innocent. I know no royalists or émigrés. You cannot accuse me of such a thing! Why, I am a friend to your Revolution. Can you not see it in my dress?’ I stroked my wilted rosette. ‘I implore you, captain, I must send a message to Monsieur Égalité with whom I am most intimate. I have lived with him, in the Palais-Royal, where I am well known to all his household. If you would but bring me pen and paper,’ I begged.

He laughed. ‘Do you not think that every whore in the precincts of the Palais-Royal has not cried the very words you have uttered, citizeness? I am an intimate of Monsieur Égalité!’ He ridiculed me in a high-pitched voice. ‘Tell me, ma mignonne, have you a sou upon your pretty person to pay for your pen and paper?’ Then he showed me a mocking smile while wagging his head. ‘I did not think so. You see, there is a price for every pleasure. Have you yourself not uttered those words? Non?’ He finished with a wink.