Scaramouche

d it was, he perceived, by sheer good fortune that he had escaped without hurt. There remained the wind itself - the

ere the gathering of the populace was greatest, where, as he judged,

First and Second Estates from the pedestal of the statue of Louis XV. Now the air was vibrant with the voice of the multitude itself, raised in anger. Here and there men were fighting with canes a

o the Palais! Down with the assassins

ith him in the press enlightened Andre–Loui

athedral works. Pardi! If they can't prevail in one way they'll prevail in another." The man was fiercely emphatic. "They'll stop at nothing. If they can't overa

alking, and clove himself a

ster of students about the body of the murdere

Moreau!" sa

tinent of nose, who considered him with disapproval. It was Le Chapelier, a lawyer of Rennes, a prominent member of the

to them? Why don't you tell them what to do?

Andre–Louis was by all his colleagues of the Literary Chamber of Rennes, he was by none mistrusted so thoroughly as by this vigorous republican. Indeed, had Le Chapelier been able to prevail against the inf

d to find traces of it on Andre–Louis' face, for he had learnt by experience that it was

on that score can har

wo opinions?" q

han ever now that you are the appointed delegate of a nobleman. You see what you

iably opposed to each other in academic debates, how

hem what is to be do

let from the other side, I shall not hind

o the plinth. Alarmed now, for he could only suppose it to be Andre–Louis' intention to speak on behalf of Privileg

, you fool. Do you think we will let you ru

ne of the legs of the bronze horse, flung his voice

nes, the motherl

nd completest silence followed. In that great silence they looked at this slim young man, hatless, long wis

by instinct that at one grip he had seized that crowd, and

ug. The reformer, though unshaken in his assumption of Andre–Louis' in

at travelled clear to the ends of the square,

your eyes - the murder of one who nobly, without any thought of self, gave voice to the wrongs by which we are all oppressed.

t him the while in sheer amazement. It seemed that the fellow was in earne

which will show that this is no new thing that you have witnessed here to-day;

ce in the crowd, some twenty pac

other o

shot, and a bullet flattened itself agains

had been fired. The assailant was one of a considerable group of the opposition, a g

f the students making chorus to Le Chapelier

nce! They'll murder you as

u what is to be looked for in them." And again he laughed, not merely in exaltation as they supposed who watched him from below, but also in amusement. And his amusement had two sources. One was to discover how glibly he uttered the phrases proper to whip up the emotions of a crowd: the other was in the remembrance of how the crafty Cardinal

man was battling on, seeking to hew

"What matters one assassin more or less? Le

erday's happenings at Gavrillac. He drew tears from them with the pathos of his picture of the bereaved widow Mabey and her three starving, destitute children -"orphaned to avenge the death of a pheasant"- a

lence his brave voice that he killed him. But he has failed of his object. For I, poor Philippe de Vil

tand, at least in part, this bewildering change in Andre–Loui

hands vengeance upon Philippe de Vilmorin's murderers. I am here t

which an ambitious bourgeoisie - speaking through the mouths of the lawyers, who were its articulate part - sought to overthrow to its o

d the inertia of the royal justice where the great are the offenders. It was wi

Would it be just, would it be reasonable that he should otherwise administer it?" He paused dramatically to let his sarcasm sink in. It ha

ould have spoken. He had so often argued with him, so often attended the discussions of the Literary Cha

They are France. For surely you cannot suppose the remainder to be anything that matters. It cannot be pretended that twenty-four million souls are o

ivilege - does it surprise you that the dispensing of royal justice should be placed in the stout hands of these Lesdiguieres, men without brains to think or hearts to be touched? Consider what it is that must be defended against the as

of the people to maintain their own opulent estate; the cens, the lods-et-ventes, which absorb a fifth of the value of the land, the blairee, which must be paid before herds can feed on communal lands, the pulverage to indemnify them for the dust raised on their roads by the herds that go to market, the sextelage on everything offered for sale in the public markets, th

ised, have never been rescinded. To this day if a noble returning from the hunt were to slay two of his serfs to bathe and r

as raises his voice in protest in the name of humanity against an excess of these already excessive abuses. I have told you of one remorselessly slain in cold blood for doing no

these King's Lieutenants; not instruments of justice, but walls erected for the sh

the Privileged to submit themselves to a just equality in the eyes of the law with the meanest of the canaille they trample underfoot, to provide that the moneys necessar

much they prefer to resis

n uttered then. He used it now. "In doing this they are striking at the very foundations of the throne. These

a moment smiling ironically. Then he waved them into silence, and saw by their ready obedience how completely he possessed them. For in the voice with which he spok

uietly, that ironic smile about the c

through the jungle, were weary of being hunted by the tiger, they banded themselves into packs, and went a-hunting the tiger in their turn. M.

ght them up to a pitch of dangerous passion, and they were ripe for any violence to which

g canes, and - here and there - even a sword. "To the Palais!

men's emotions so quick to respond to the appeal of eloquence - had given him this mastery. At his bidding now the gale would sweep a

ble instrument of a corrupt system worth

. He thought it would be good for the soul of M. de Lesdig

e instrument - a miserable painted lath such as this. And precipi

ld his godfather

e on theirs. They will welcome the chance to assert their mastery by a firmer grip than heretofore. The military will be sent for. You will be faced by the bayonets of mercen

which they had fallen

e, then?

it the King issued his order dissolving the States as now constituted - an order which those who base their power on Privilege and Abuse do not hesitate to thwart. Let Nantes be informed of the precise situation, and let nothing be done here until Nantes shall have given us the lead. She has the p

e he spoke. But it was not their will that he should thus extinguish himself. The thunder of their acclamations rose deafeningly upon the air. He had played upon their emotions - each in turn -

and swung him to their shoulders, where again

essed alongside of him with

hen to the students he issued a sharp command. "To the Literary Chamber - at once. We must concert measures upon the insta

ero of the hour. Waving his hands to them, he called upon them to dispers

pattern to the world," he flattered them. "Endure a little

from its ashes, where in an upper chamber lighted by diamond-shaped panes of yellow glass the Literary Chamber usually held its meetings.

were young, ardent, and afire with the illusion of liberty, hailed Andre–Louis as the st

than the house was assailed by the gendarmerie of M. de Lesdiguieres, dispatched in haste to arrest the firebrand who was inciting the people of Rennes to sedition. The force consisted of fifty men. Five hundred would have been t

f the Literary Chamber. Here, with no bullets to fear, and no one to report his words to the authorities, Le Chapelier could permit his

ates of Brittany. But they held the explanation of his conversion. The murder of their dear colleague Vilmorin had produced this change. In that brutal deed Moreau had beheld at last in true proportions the workings of that evil spirit which they were vowed to exorcise from France. And to-day he had proven himself the stoutest apostle among them of the new faith. He had pointed out to them the onl

rey now to some measure of reaction, listene

ed down, he heard

point our leader here, Le Ch

ad been bowed in thought, and it was seen that his coun

Who could represent us better, who more deserving to be our representative, to speak to our friends of Nantes with the voice of Rennes, than the champion who once alr

ed. "Be it so," he said, simply. "It is perhaps fitting that I should carry out what I have begun, though I

Rennes. And you must go secretly. Let none of you allow it to be known that he has gone. I would not have you come to harm over this, Andre–Louis. But you must see the risks you run, and if you are to be spared to help in