In the Shadow of the Guillotine by Rafael Sabatini

SEYRAC had watched her every movement with those dark, ardent eyes of his, and he sighed when the door closed after her. He flung himself into a chair by the table, and sat there a while absorbed in thought. When at last he stirred it was to take up a paper which lay there where Vidal had left it.

It was the _laissez-passer_ that was to provide the colonel with the means of leaving Paris. He considered it, then dropped it, and rose, stretching himself as if to shake off the despondent lethargy that threatened him.