SSET. Have no fear. I wager that the dagger is not even sharpened.

HOST. In that, my friend, you may be making a mistake. One fine day the
jest may turn to earnest--and so I am ready for all emergencies.

GRASSET. The day is nigh. We live in great times. Come, Citizen Labret,
we will go to our comrades. Farewell, Prosper; you will see me either a
great man or never again.

Labret (giddily). As a great man--or--not at all.

[Exeunt. HOST remains behind, sits on a table, opens a
pamphlet, and reads aloud.]

HOST. "Now that the beast is in the noose, throttle it." He doesn't
write badly, that little Desmoulins. "Never was richer booty offered to
the victors. Forty thousand palaces and castles, two-fifths of all the
property in France, will be the reward of valor. Those who plume
themselves on being conquerors will be put beneath the yoke, the
nation will be purged."

Enter the COMMISSAIRE.

HOST (sizing him up). Hallo--the rabble's beginning to come in pretty
early tonight.

COMMISSAIRE. My dear Prosper, don't start any of your jokes on me; I am
the Commissaire of your district.

HOST. And how can I be of any service?

COMMISSAIRE. I have orders to attend the performance in your tavern
this evening.

HOST. It will be an especial honor for me.

COMMISSAIRE. 'Tis nothing of that, my excellent Prosper. The
authorities wish to have definite information as to what really goes on
in your place. For some weeks--

HOST. This is a place of amusement, M. le Commissaire--nothing more.

COMMISSAIRE. Let me finish what I was saying. For some weeks past this
place is said to have been the theatre of wild orgies.

HOST. You are falsely informed, M. le Commissaire. We make jokes here,
nothing more.

COMMISSAIRE. It begins with that, I know. But it finishes up in another
way, so I am informed. You have been an actor.

HOST. A manager, sir--manager of a first-class troupe who last played
in Denis.

COMMISSAIRE. That is immaterial. Then you came into a small legacy.

HOST. Not worth speaking about, M. le Commissaire.

COMMISSAIRE. Your troupe split up.

HOST. And my legacy as well.

COMMISSAIRE (smiling). Very well! (Both smile. Suddenly serious.)
You started a tavern.

HOST. That fared wretchedly.

COMMISSAIRE. After which you had an idea that, which, as one must
admit, possesses a certain quantum of originality.

HOST. You make me quite proud, sir.

COMMISSAIRE. You