Had it been they who were going to reason not with flesh and
blood, it would have been different; but it was we, not they; and they
hurried us on as not willing that a moment should be lost. I had to
struggle, almost to fight, in order to provide them with a leader, which
was indispensable, before I myself went away. For who could tell if we
should ever come back? For a moment I hesitated, thinking that it might
be well to invest M. de Bois-Sombre as my deputy with my scarf of
office; but then I reflected that when a man goes to battle, when he
goes to risk his life, perhaps to lose it, for his people, it is his
right to bear those signs which distinguish him from common men, which
show in what office, for what cause, he is ready to die.

Accordingly I paused, struggling against the pressure of the people, and
said in a loud voice, 'In the absence of M. Barbou, who has forsaken us,
I constitute the excellent M. Felix de Bois-Sombre my representative. In
my absence my fellow-citizens will respect and obey him as myself.'
There was a cry of assent. They would have given their assent to
anything that we might but go on. What was it to them? They took no
thought of the heaving of my bosom, the beating of my heart. They left
us on the edge of the darkness with our faces towards the gate. There we
stood one breathless moment. Then the little postern slowly opened
before us, and once more we stood within Semur.

THE NARRATIVE OF PAUL LECAMUS.

M. le Maire having requested me, on his entrance into Semur, to lose no
time in drawing up an account of my residence in the town, to be placed
with his own narrative, I have promised to do so to the best of my
ability, feeling that my condition is a very precarious one, and my time
for explanation may be short. Many things, needless to enumerate, press
this upon my mind. It was a pleasure to me to see my neighbours when I
first came out of the city; but their voices, their touch, their
vehemence and eagerness wear me out. From my childhood up I have shrunk
from close contact with my fellow-men. My mind has been busy with other
thoughts; I have desired to investigate the mysterious and unseen. When
I have walked abroad I have heard whispers in the air; I have felt the
movement of wings, the gliding of unseen feet. To my comrades these have
been a source of alarm and disquiet, but not to me; is not God in the
unseen with all His angels? and not only so, but the best and wisest of
men.