class="c3">ALL [protesting]. No, no, he's still Minister,—The newspaper says he will remain Minister.—Good! If Monsieur Necker weren't there, everything would be lost.

WOMEN [promenading about]. No business today! They are all quite mad. They think of nothing but Versailles.—The little fellow who was with me just now spoke of nothing but Necker.—Say, is it true that that damned Austrian threw our deputies into prison?

THE SWINDLERS [mysteriously shaking their bags of silver under the noses of the passers-by]. Fine Sunday morning! Ten o'clock and the garden is full! What will it be soon?—Fine show and a small crop! They're here to get the latest news.—Oh, if you only know how to go about it—!

GONCHON [to the shopkeepers]. Now, you fellows, stir yourselves, stir yourselves! Business isn't everything. Of course, business must be carried on, but we must be good patriots, too. Keep your eyes open. I warn you, things are beginning to happen!

A SHOPKEEPER. Do you know something, Monsieur Gonchon?

GONCHON. Careful. Grain is coming. Every one at his post. When the moment comes, give it to those idiots, and howl all together.

A SHOPKEEPER. Long live the Nation!

GONCHON [hitting him]. Shut up, you fool. "Long live the Due d'Orléans!" Then, if you like, both.

CAMILLE DESMOULINS [who has just come from a gambling-den—excited, laughing and stammering]. Plucked! They've cleaned me!—I knew it: I said to myself, "Camille, you're going to get plucked." Now you're satisfied! It's done. Well, I don't have it to do over again. I always foresee the stupid things I am going to do. Thank God, I don't lack a single—anyway, I've killed two hours. What news from Versailles?—Oh, the rascal! They are thick as thieves at a fair. The gambling-dens advertise, "You come in to pass the time." You've got to occupy your hands and the rest! That is why cards and women were invented. They can relieve you of useless money. Now my pockets weigh nothing at all! Who wants to see a brand-new purse? Oh, there's not a piece left.

WOMEN [mocking him]. "They stir you up, up, up, they'll stir you up."

CAMILLE DESMOULINS. You bats of Venus, you're very proud, indeed, to have swindled a poor devil like me! But, Good God, he's not angry with you. "I'd lose it again if I had it to lose."

AN OLD BOURGEOIS. The gambler's purse has no strings.

GONCHON. Young man, I see you are in trouble. To oblige you, I will lend you three écus on that chain.

DESMOULINS. Generous Gonchon, do you want to strip me naked like St. John? Leave that to the ladies: they will do very well without your assistance.

GONCHON. You little guttersnipe, do you know whom you are addressing?

DESMOULINS. Gonchon—merely Gonchon! You are a jeweler, usurer, vendor of lemonade, and keeper of a brothel. You are everything: Gonchon, king of the gambling-den keepers.

GONCHON. What do you mean by your "gambling-dens"? I have merely founded clubs where, under the pretext of enjoying themselves by honest and natural means, men may gather and discuss methods of reforming the State. They are assemblies of free citizens, patriots—

DESMOULINS. Where does the Patrie come in?

GONCHON. The Society of the Men of Nature—

DESMOULINS. Women of Nature!

GONCHON. A very bad joke. If you haven't enough shame to respect a respectable man, you might at least respect the sign beneath the egis of which stands my house.

DESMOULINS [without looking]. What sign? "The Forty Thieves"?

GONCHON [furiously]. "The Great Necker"!

DESMOULINS. That is rather hard on him, Gonchon. [He looks at the sign.] What is on the other side?

GONCHON. Nothing.

DESMOULINS. I see another picture.

GONCHON. The Duc d'Orléans—two sides of the same head.

DESMOULINS. The front and the back! [The bystanders laugh. GONCHON, with his associates, advances upon DESMOULINS.] Very well! I advise you not to drive me to crush you with my Pretorian Guard! Do you want a certificate of citizenship? Oh, Janus Gonchon, I make you a present of it. You give bread to every sneak in Paris, and take it from the honest people, so that they have only one desire: to go and fight. Audax et edax. Long live the Revolution!

GONCHON. I forgive you, because it wouldn't do to duel with the enemy at our gates, but I'll meet you soon before the men of Versailles.

DESMOULINS. Are they really coming?

GONCHON. Ah, you turn pale?—Yes, the struggle is at hand. The mercenaries from Lorraine and Flanders are in the Plain of Grenelle, the artillery at Saint-Denis; the German cavalry at the Ecole militaire. The Marshal, with all his aides-de-camp, is giving orders for war at Versailles. They are going to attack tonight.

A WOMAN. Good God, what will becomes of us?

A BOURGEOIS. The bandits! They treat us like enemies!

A WORKINGMAN [to GONCHON]. How do you know that? The road to Versailles is cut off. They've stationed cannon at the Pont de Sèvres. No one can pass.

GONCHON. Suspicious, eh? I'll make the first man who doubts my patriotism swallow my fist. Don't you know Gonchon?

THE WORKINGMAN. We don't suspect you.—Don't get excited.—We've too much to do to get into a quarrel with you. We only asked you where you got your information?

GONCHON. You haven't the right to ask me. I know what I know. I have a way of knowing.

ANOTHER WORKINGMAN [to the First]. Let him alone; he's all right.

A BOURGEOIS. Lord, what shall we do?

A STUDENT. To the gates! Everybody to the gates! Don't let them in!

A BOURGEOIS. As if they could stop them! Poor people like ourselves, without arms! What do they know of war! Can they keep out the best troops of the kingdom?

ANOTHER. They're in already! And there's the Bastille; it's like a cancer—incurable!

A WORKINGMAN. The vile monster! Who will free us?

A STUDENT. They've already made a company of Swiss Guards retreat today.

ANOTHER. Their cannon are in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.

A WORKINGMAN. Can't do a thing while we have this bit in our mouths. We've got to take it out first.

A BOURGEOIS. How?

A WORKINGMAN. I don't know how, but it's got to be done.

ALL [seriously and incredulously]. Take the Bastille? [They turn to one another.]

NEWS-CRIERS [in the distance]. Latest news! Desperate struggle!

A MAN [shabby and pale, with the air of a maniac]. We haven't anything to fear from the soldiers. They won't attack.

A STUDENT. What!

THE MANIAC. They won't attack. They've