to be
wiser and better. Come, lad, break that sword upon your knee, tear off
that green cockade, and go back to your village again!"

I stepped back, and, drawing my sword, motioned to those in front to
give way.

"I'll cut down the first that opposes me!" cried I, with a wave of the
steel round my head; and at the same instant I dashed forward.

The mass fell back, and left me a free passage, while a chorus of
the wildest yells and screams burst around and about me. Mad with
the excitement of the moment, I shook my sword at them as I went, in
defiance, and even laughed my scorn of their cowardice. My triumph was
brief; a stunning blow on the back of the head sent me reeling forwards,
and at the same instant the ranks of the mob closed in, and, hurling
me to the ground, trampled and jumped upon me. Stunned, but not
unconscious, I could perceive that a battle was waged over me, in which
my own fate was forgotten, for the multitude passed and repassed my body
without inflicting other injury than their foot-treads. Even this was
brief, too, and I was speedily raised from the earth, and saw myself
in the arms of two young men in uniform like my own. One of them was
bleeding from a wound in the temple, but seemed only to think of me and
my injuries. We were soon joined by several others of the troop, who,
having returned from a pursuit of the mob, now pressed around me with
kindest questions and inquiries. My name, whence I came, and how long I
had been in Paris, were all asked of me in a breath; while others, more
considerate still, sought to ascertain if I had been wounded in the
late scuffle. Except in some bruises, and even those not severe, I
had suffered nothing; and when my clothes were brushed, and shako
readjusted, and a new cockade affixed to it, I was as well as ever. From
the kind attentions we met with in the shops, and the sympathy which
the better-dressed people displayed towards us, I soon gathered that the
conflict was indeed one between two classes of the population, and that
the Troupe were the champions of property.

"Show him the Rue Lepelletier, Guillaume," said an officer to one of
the youths; and a boy somewhat older than myself now undertook to be my
guide.

I had some difficulty in answering his questions as to the names and
the number of my family who were guillotined, and when and where the
execution had occurred; but I was spared any excessive strain on my
imagination by the palpable indiff