n is a bore; it lasts over long. Five years of enthusiasm, five
years of fraternal embraces, of massacres, of fine speeches, of
_Marseillaises_, of tocsins, of 'hang up the aristocrats,' of heads
promenaded on pikes, of women mounted astride of cannon, of trees of
Liberty crowned with the red cap, of white-robed maidens and old men
drawn about the streets in flower-wreathed cars; of imprisonments and
guillotinings, of proclamations, and short commons, of cockades and
plumes, swords and _carmagnoles_--it grows tedious! And then folk are
beginning to lose the hang of it all. We have gone through too much, we
have seen too many of the great men and noble patriots whom you have led
in triumph to the Capitol only to hurl them afterwards from the Tarpeian
rock,--Necker, Mirabeau, La Fayette, Bailly, Petion, Manuel, and how
many others! How can we be sure you are not preparing the same fate for
your new heroes?... Men have lost all count."

"Their names, _citoyen_ Blaise; name them, these heroes we are making
ready to sacrifice!" cried Gamelin in a tone that recalled the
print-dealer to a sense of prudence.

"I am a Republican and a patriot," he replied, clapping his hand on his
heart. "I am as good a Republican as you, as ardent a patriot as you,
_citoyen_ Gamelin. I do not suspect your zeal nor accuse you of any
backsliding. But remember that my zeal and my devotion to the State are
attested by numerous acts. Here you have my principles: I give my
confidence to every individual competent to serve the Nation. Before the
men whom the general voice elects to the perilous honour of the
Legislative office, such as Marat, such as Robespierre, I bow my head; I
am ready to support them to the measure of my poor ability and offer
them the humble co-operation of a good citizen. The Committees can bear
witness to my ardour and self-sacrifice. In conjunction with true
patriots, I have furnished oats and fodder to our gallant cavalry, boots
for our soldiers. This very day I am despatching from Vernon a convoy of
sixty oxen to the Army of the South through a country infested with
brigands and patrolled by the emissaries of Pitt and Conde. I do not
talk; I act."

Gamelin calmly put back his sketches in his portfolio, the strings of
which he tied and then slipped it under his arm.

"It is a strange contradiction," he said through his clenched teeth, "to
see men help our soldiers to carry through the world the liberty they
betray in thei