He looked at me fixedly.

Well, then, have the President arrested this night."

It was now my turn to look at him.

What do you mean?"

What I say."

I ought to state that his language was frank, resolute, and

self-convinced, and that during the whole of this conversation, and now,

and always, it has given me the impression of honesty.

"Arrest the President!" I cried.

Then he set forth that this extraordinary enterprise was an easy matter;

that the Army was undecided; that in the Army the African Generals

counterpoised the President; that the National Guard favored the

Assembly, and in the Assembly the Left; that Colonel Forestier answered

for the 8th Legion; Colonel Gressier for the 6th, and Colonel Howyne for

the 5th; that at the order of the Sixteen of the Left there would be an

immediate taking up of arms; that my signature would suffice; that,

nevertheless, if I preferred to call together the Committee, in Secret

Session, we could wait till the next day; that on the order from the

Sixteen, a battalion would march upon the Elysée; that the Elysée

apprehended nothing, thought only of offensive, and not of defensive

566

The History of a Crime