The question was put, and the Duchess and her sons, after great hesitation, were drawn away to a side door, at the further end of the hall. At the same moment a new crowd of the people rushed in and took seats beside the opposition members, by whom they were welcomed.
"I demand to speak!" cried M. Marie. "By the law of 1842, the Duke of Nemours is Regent. How can the King abrogate that law? I demand a provisional government!"
"A provisional government!" cried M. Crémieux. "We made a mistake in '30. Let there be no mistake in '48!"
"A provisional government," said the Abbé Genoude, a Legitimist; "but it must be the will of the people!"
M. Odillon Barrot, who had been long expected, now entered and immediately mounted the tribune.
"The crown of July rests on the head of a woman and a child!" cried the great lawyer.
The Duchess of Orléans instantly rose, as if about to speak, but, at the urgent solicitation of those around her, resumed her seat.
"I call on the country to rally around this woman and this child," cried M. Barrot, "the two-fold representative of the principles of July, '30!"
The voice of the speaker was drowned in shouts of dissent and of "Vive la Réforme!"
"I dissent from the opinion of M. Odillon Barrot!" cried the Marquis de la Rochejacquelin. "If he is right, the people are nothing!"
"Order--order!" cried the President, putting on his hat, but he was at once induced to remove it.
At this moment another vast crowd burst into the Chamber, garbed in a style so heterogeneous as to be grotesque--some with blouses--some with dragoon helmets on their heads, some with weapons and many with flags.
"Down--down--down with the Throne!" was the terrible cry of this infuriated mass.
"I demand that the sitting be suspended!" cried M. de Mornay.
"There can be no session at such a moment," said the President, putting on his hat.
"Off--off--off with your hat, President!" cried the populace; and several of their muskets were at once pointed at the President. The hat was removed.
The scene was chaos!
"Beware!" shouted M. Chevalier, editor of the Historical Library. "Beware how you make the Count of Paris King! A provisional government we must first have!"
"What right have you to speak?" shouted a man. "You are not a deputy!"
"In the name of the people, silence!" roared a terrific voice that drowned every other.
It was the voice of Ledru Rollin.
Many of the deputies now withdrew, and their places were filled by the people. The Duchess of Orléans sat calmly amid the uproar, and the Duke of Nemours with equal calmness stood behind her chair.