The delicacy of the features would seem to indicate a different sex from
the dress--but nobody paid any attention to the child, And all eyes
were turned towards the scaffold, or the direction from which the cart
bearing the condemned criminal was to come. Among the groups close
around the scaffold were several faces we have seen before; notably, the
chalky countenance and fiery red nose of Malartic, and the bold profile
of Jacquemin Lampourde, also several of the ruffians engaged in the
abduction of Isabelle, as well as various other habitues of the Crowned
Radish. The Place de Greve, to which sooner or later they were all
pretty sure to come and expiate their crimes with their lives, seemed to
exercise a singular fascination over murderers, thieves, and criminals
of all sorts, who invariably gathered in force to witness an execution.
They evidently could not resist it, and appeared to find a fierce
satisfaction in watching the terrible spectacle that they themselves
would some day probably furnish to the gaping multitude. Then the victim
himself always expected his friends' attendance--he would be hurt and
disappointed if his comrades did not rally round him at the last. A
criminal in that position likes to see familiar faces in the throng that
hems him in.
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