any notice of what was said to him.
Every now and then cries arose in the streets, and made the members of
the Commune start as they sat there behind their sombre curtains. "Do
you think they can come in?" asked some one of Johannard, to which he
replies, "What a wild idea! Delescluze knows it is impossible, and
Dombrowski, a cold unexcitable fellow, only laughs when people mention
it; does he not, Rigault?" Thereupon the personage addressed, who has
not yet spoken, bows his head in sign of acquiescence. He looks young in
spite of his thick, black beard; his eyes are weak, his expression is
sly and disagreeable, and looks as if he might sometimes have his hours
of coarse joviality. Then a portiere was lowered, or a door shut, and
the person who had overheard the preceding heard and saw no more.

[Illustration: FONTAINE, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC DOMAINS AND
REGISTRATION.[86]]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 85: The Commune occupied the Mint, and directed Citizen
Camelinat, bronze-fitter, to manufacture gold and silver coin to the
amount of 1,500,000 francs. Of that sum, 76,000 francs only was saved by
the Versailles troops on their entry. The different articles of gold and
silver found at the Hotel des Monnaies represented a total weight of
1,186 lbs., and consisted of objects taken from the churches, religious
houses, and government offices, Imperial plate, and presents to the city
of Paris. All these objects have been sent to the repository of the
Domaine, where they maybe claimed on identification by their owners.]

[Footnote 86: Fontaine was nominated on the 18th of March director of
the public domains and of registration. His name figures in the history
of the revolutions, emeutes, and insurrections of Paris from 1848. He
was a professional insurgent.]

LXXX.

I am beginning to regret Cluseret. He was impatient, especially in
speech. He used to say "Every man a National Guard!" But with Cluseret,
as with one's conscience, there were possible conciliations. You had
only to answer the decrees of the war-delegate by an enthusiastic "Why I
am delighted, indeed I was just going to beg you to send me to the
Porte-Maillot;" which having done, one was free to go about one's
business without fear of molestation. As to leaving Paris, in spite of
the law which condemned every man under forty to remain in the city;
nothing was easier. You had but to go to the Northern Railway Station,
and prefer your request to a citizen, seat