leep in the open air last night. Are these the men to defend a city?
There will be trouble before long, Cuthbert. The workmen will not stand
it; they have no faith in the Government nor in Trochu, nor in any one."

"Including themselves, I hope," Cuthbert smiled.

"They are in earnest. I have been up at----" and he hesitated,
"Montmartre this afternoon, and they are furious there."

"They are fools," Cuthbert said, scornfully, "and no small proportion
are knaves besides. They read those foul pamphlets and gloat over the
abuse of every decently dressed person. They rave against the Prussians,
but it is the Bourgeois they hate. They talk of fighting, while what
they want is to sack and plunder."

"Nothing of the kind," the American said, hotly. "They want honesty and
purity, and public spirit. They see vice more rampant than it was in the
days of the Empire. They see the Bourgeois shirking their duty. They see
license and extravagance everywhere."

"It is a pity they don't look at home," Cuthbert laughed
good-temperedly. "I have not yet learnt that either purity or honesty,
or a sense of duty are conspicuous at Montmartre or Belleville. There is
just as much empty vaporing there as there is down the Boulevards. As to
courage, they may have a chance presently of showing whether they have
more of it than the better class. Personally, I should doubt it." Then
he added more seriously, "My dear Dampierre, I can of course guess where
you have learnt all this. I know that Minette's father is one of the
firebrands of his quarter, and that since she has been earning an income
here he has never done a stroke of work, but has taken up the profession
of politician. I am not doubting his sincerity. He may be for aught I
know perfectly in earnest, but it is his capacity I doubt. These
uneducated men are able to see but one side of the question, and that is
their own.

"I am not at all blind to the danger. I believe it is possible that we
are going to have another red revolution. Your men at Belleville and
Montmartre are capable of repeating the worst and most terrible features
of that most awful time, but you know what came of it and how it ended.
Even now some of these blackguard prints are clamoring for one man to
take the supreme control of everything. So far there are no signs of
that coming man, but doubtless, in time, another Bonaparte may come to
the front and crush down disorder with an iron heel; but that will not
be unt