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CHAPTER V.
THE DARKNESS OF THE CRIME
Versigny had just left me.
While I dressed hastily there came in a man in whom I had every
confidence. He was a poor cabinet-maker out of work, named Girard, to
whom I had given shelter in a room of my house, a carver of wood, and
not illiterate. He came in from the street; he was trembling.
"
Well," I asked, "what do the people say?"
Girard answered me,--
"People are dazed. The blow has been struck in such a manner that it
is not realized. Workmen read the placards, say nothing, and go to
their work. Only one in a hundred speaks. It is to say, 'Good!' This
is how it appears to them. The law of the 31st May is abrogated--'Well
done!' Universal suffrage is re-established--'Also well done!' The
reactionary majority has been driven away--'Admirable!' Thiers is
arrested--'Capital!' Changarnier is seized--'Bravo!' Round each placard
there are claqueurs. Ratapoil explains his coup d'état to Jacques
Bonhomme, Jacques Bonhomme takes it all in. Briefly, it is my impression
that the people give their consent."
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