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the Assembly elected by themselves, against universal suffrage, against
their own vote; and yet they will not rise in December, 1851, for Right,
for the Law, for the People, for Liberty, for the Republic. You say that
there is perplexity, and that you do not understand; but, on the
contrary, it was in June that all was obscure, and it is to-day that
everything is clear!"
While I was saying these last words the door of the parlor was softly
opened, and some one came in. It was a young man, fair as Auguste, in an
overcoat, and wearing a workman's cap. I started. Auguste turned round
and said to me, "You can trust him."
The young man took off his cap, came close up to me, carefully turning
his back on the glazed partition, and said to me in a low voice, "I know
you well. I was on the Boulevard du Temple to-day. We asked you what we
were to do; you said, 'We must take up arms.' Well, here they are!"
He thrust his hands into the pockets of his overcoat and drew out two
pistols.
Almost at the same moment the bell of the street door sounded. He
hurriedly put his pistols back into his pockets. A man in a blouse came
in, a workman of some fifty years. This man, without looking at any one,
without saying anything, threw down a piece of money on the counter.
Auguste took a small glass and filled it with brandy, the man drank it
off, put down the glass upon the counter and went away.
When the door was shut: "You see," said Auguste to me, "they drink, they
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