for which voltaire and rousseau are to blame

this was the manifestation that coster de saint-victor anticipated. he clung to the base of the caryatides which supported the boxes, and pushed, pulled, and assisted by twenty persons, he succeeded in reaching the one occupied by barras. barras did not know what the young man wanted, and, although he was not aware of what[pg 279] had passed in aurélie's apartments, he could not count coster among his best friends. he therefore pushed back his chair. coster saw the movement.

"excuse me, citizen barras," he said, laughing, "my business is not with you. but i am, like you, a deputy commissioned to dethrone this bust."

and standing upon the railing of the box he struck at the bust with his cane. it tottered, fell to the floor, and crashed into a thousand pieces amid the almost unanimous applause of the audience.

at the same time similar execution was done on the unoffending bust of lepelletier de saint-fargeau, who was killed on the 20th of january by the guard of paris. the same acclamations greeted its fall and destruction. then two hands raised a bust above the orchestra, saying: "here is a bust of voltaire!"

the words were scarcely spoken before the bust flew from hand to hand, and, by a sort of jacob's ladder, reached the empty niche. rousseau's bust followed, and the two were installed amid the cries, shouts and acclamations of all present.

but coster de saint-victor, standing upon the railing of barras's box, waited until silence had fallen. he might have waited for a long time had he not made a motion that he wished to speak. the cries of "long live the author of 'emile,' of 'the social contract,' and 'the new héloise'!" mingled with others of "long live the author of 'za?re,' 'mahomet,' and the 'henriade'!" died away and were succeeded by shouts of "coster wants to speak! speak, coster! we are listening. hush! hush! silence!" coster made another sign, and, judging that he could at last make himself heard, he shouted: "citizens, thank citizen barras, who is here in the box!"

all eyes were turned upon barras.

"the illustrious general has been good enough to remind me that the same sacrilege which we have just repaired here exists in the chamber of the convention. in fact, the two[pg 280] commemorative tablets, representing the death of marat and citizen lepelletier de saint-fargeau, from the pencil of the terrorist david, are still hanging upon the walls."

a cry burst from every throat: "to the convention, friends, to the convention!"

"the excellent citizen barras will see that the doors are opened for us. long live citizen barras!"

and the whole audience, who had hooted barras earlier in the evening, took up the cheer: "long live barras!"

as for barras himself, bewildered by the part which coster de saint-victor had allotted him in the comedy, a part in which it is needless to say he was a nonentity, he rose, and seizing his hat, cane, and overcoat, hastened from his box and ran downstairs in search of his carriage.

but rapidly as he had made his exit from the theatre, coster, jumping from balcony to balcony, disappeared behind the curtain with a last cry of "to the convention!" and reached aurélie's door before barras had called his carriage.

suzette hurried to the door, although she had not recognized the general's ring; perhaps she hurried all the more for that reason, and coster slipped through the half-open door.

"hide me in the boudoir, suzette," said he. "citizen barras will be here shortly to tell your mistress that he cannot sup with her. it is i who will sup with your mistress."

scarcely had he uttered these words when a carriage drew up before the door of the house.

"here! quick, quick!" cried suzette, opening the door of the boudoir. coster de saint-victor darted in just as a hurried step sounded upon the stairs.

"ah! there you are, citizen-general," said suzette; "i guessed that it was you, and, as you see, i was holding the door open for you. my mistress is waiting impatiently for you."

"to the convention! to the convention!" shouted a[pg 281] band of young men who were passing through the street and striking at the pillars with their sticks.

"oh! what is the matter?" asked aurélie, appearing at the door, her color heightened with impatience and uneasiness.

"as you see, dear friend, a riot has occurred which deprives me of the pleasure of supping with you. i have come to tell you of it myself, so that you may not doubt my regret."

"ah! how unfortunate!" exclaimed aurélie. "such a lovely supper."

"and such a sweet companion," added barras, trying to bring forth a melancholy sigh. "but my duty as a statesman before all."

"to the convention!" howled the mob.

"au revoir, sweet friend; as you see, i have not a moment to lose if i am to get there before them." and faithful to his duty, as he said, the future director stopped only long enough to reward suzette's fidelity by thrusting a handful of assignats in her hand, and then rushed down the stairs.

suzette shut the door behind him, and as she was bolting and locking it, her mistress called out: "what are you doing?"

"as you see, madame, i am fastening the door."

"and coster, you wretched girl?"

"look behind you, madame," said suzette.

aurélie looked, and as she looked she uttered a cry of joy and surprise. coster, who had come out from the boudoir on tiptoe, was standing behind her, with his arm held out to her.

"citizeness," he said, "will you do me the honor to accept my arm and let me conduct you to the dining-room?"

"but how have you done it? what did you do? what did you devise?"

"i will tell you while we are eating citizen barras's supper," said coster de saint-victor.