pectre, his
dark eyes blazing, his thin and writhing lip flecked with foam, his
tall form swaying to and fro, rising, bending--now thrown back, then
leaning over the marble bar of the tribune--continued to pour forth his
scathing sarcasm, his crushing invective, his eloquent persuasion and
his unanswerable argument in tones, now soft and tuneful as a silvery
bell, then sad and pitiful as an evening zephyr, then clear, high and
sonorous as a clarion, then hoarse and deep as the thunder, for a period
of four hours, unbroken and continuous, without stop or stay.

The effect of this speech, as the orator, pale, exhausted, shattered,
unstrung, with nerves like the torn cordage of a ship that has outridden
the tempest, descended from the tribune, baffles all description.
Fearful of its influence, the Minister of Foreign Affairs at once arose,
and in order to divert the attention of the Chamber asked leave to lay
before it the late dispatches from the seat of war, setting forth the
glorious triumphs of the French arms in Algeria. This intelligence,
which, at any other time, would have been received with rapturous
enthusiasm, was listened to under the influence of a counterirritant
already at work, with comparative calmness, and its only effect was to
cause a postponement of the vote on the laborers' bill upon the plea of
the lateness of the hour, although not without strenuous opposition from
the extreme right. The rejoicing of the galleries at the triumph of
their champion and their fierce applause knew no bounds at the close of
the sitting, and their idol escaped being borne in his chair to his
lodgings only by gliding through a private exit from the hall to the
first carriage he could find.

"What think you?" cried Beauchamp, triumphantly, to the Ministerial
Secretary, as they were pressed together for an instant by the excited
throng on the steps as they left the hall.

"Think, Monsieur!" was the bitter rejoinder of the Secretary, whose
agitation completely overcame his habitual and constitutional
self-possession, "I think Paris is on the eve of another Reign of
Terror!"

Beauchamp laughed, and the friends were drawn apart by the conflicting
billows of the crowd.

CHAPTER VI.

THE MYSTERY THICKENS.

M. Dantes' wonderful speech was the principal topic of conversation in
every quarter of Paris, exciting comment of the most animated
description. Of course, the workmen and their friends were delighted
with it