In one documentary devoted to the French Revolution the narrator says (just after Saint Just and Lazare Carnot have been mentioned):
A third member [of the Committee of Public Safety] was the crippled lawyer Couthon*.
Why was not "the" used before "third"?
P. S. In one of my previous posts Article before ordinal numbers I already posed a question regarding the usage of the articles before the ordinal numbers. But I think that the answer which I received does not cover this one. The body of the Committe of Public Safety was composed of the precise amount of members. Or would using the definite article indicate that Couthon was the third most important member or something similar? Or is it so because the narrator did not name all the members of the COPS but just three?