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conferred a few moments alone with M. Fleury, then the aide-de-camp came
out of the room, mounted his horse, and galloped off in the direction of
Mazas.
After this the men of the coup d'état met together in M. Bonaparte's
room, and held council. Matters were visibly going badly; it was
probable that the battle would end by assuming formidable proportions.
Up to that time they had desired this, now they did not feel sure that
they did not fear it. They pushed forward towards it, but they
mistrusted it. There were alarming symptoms in the steadfastness of the
resistance, and others not less serious in the cowardice of adherents.
Not one of the new Ministers appointed during the morning had taken
possession of his Ministry--a significant timidity on the part of people
ordinarily so prompt to throw themselves upon such things. M. Roulier,
in particular, had disappeared, no one knew where--a sign of tempest.
Putting Louis Bonaparte on one side, the coup d'état continued to rest
solely upon three names, Morny, St. Arnaud, and Maupas. St. Arnaud
answered for Magnan. Morny laughed and said in a whisper, "But does
Magnan answer for St. Arnaud?" These men adopted energetic measures,
they sent for new regiments; an order to the garrisons to march upon
Paris was despatched in the one direction as far as Cherbourg, and on
the other as far as Maubeuge. These criminals, in the main deeply
uneasy, sought to deceive each other. They assumed a cheerful
countenance; all spoke of victory; each in the background arranged for
flight; in secret, and saying nothing, in order not to give the alarm to
his compromised colleagues, so as, in case of failure, to leave the
people some men to devour. For this little school of Machiavellian apes
the hopes of a successful escape lie in the abandonment of their
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