"Six thousand troops of the Line are on the boulevards, from the Madeleine to the Porte St. Martin," said M. Dantès. "The Hôtel de Ville, the Places de la Bastille, de la Concorde and du Carrousel, and the Quays frown with artillery. To-morrow will be a warm day!"
"It has been rather warm to-day in some parts of Paris," said Louis Blanc, smiling. "Was there ever a grander spectacle than that in the Place de la Concorde at noon? At least one hundred thousand men were there assembled. Rushing across the bridge, they gathered around the Chamber of Deputies--then from the southern gate of the Tuileries issued two bodies of troops, one of mounted Municipal Guards, the other infantry of the Line, and, pressing on the dense mass, they drove them over the bridge. Only a few old fruitwomen were crushed beneath the horses' hoofs, and a few of the troops were wounded by pebbles, however."
"At the same time," said Flocon, "all the chains in the Champs-Elysées were in requisition for a barricade, as well as all the public carriages, and the people sang the Marseillaise, the Parisienne and the Hymn of the Girondins. A guard-house was also consumed."
"Have you heard Bugeaud's remark at noon, when looking upon the Place de la Concorde?" asked Marrast.
"We have been too busy to-day to hear anything," said Ledru Rollin.
"'Ah! we shall have a day of it,' said the bloodthirsty old hero. 'I care not for the day,' said the pale Guizot, 'but the night!'"
"The people made quite a demonstration about Guizot, I hear," said Flocon. "They assailed him with a shower of groans, it is said, and some of the gamins flung pebbles at his gates."
"The most significant shout before the office of Foreign Affairs was this," said Ledru Rollin--"'Countess of Leven, where is the Minister?'"
"And the very moment this was occurring," said Flocon, "I understand that M. Thiers, on his return from the Chamber, in passing through the Champs-Elysées, narrowly escaped a most unwelcome ovation from the people. The two rivals were duly and simultaneously honored it seems."
"Thus much for to-day," said Marrast; "what of to-night?"
"Barricades rise all over Paris," said M. Dantès. "But we can do no more. Let us each retire to his home. To-morrow the National Guard will fraternize with the people, and the Ministry will resign."
A few words of parting salutation passed, and all departed.
M. Dantès and Lamartine left the office in company.
"What say you, Edmond," asked Lamartine, "will your wife spare you long enough from her pillow to make with me a brief tour of the town?"