leader of the reform was there--Ledru Rollin and Flocon excited
and fiery, Louis Blanc exhausted and agitated, Albert stern and
collected, Lamartine pale and troubled, Marrast sanguine and
confident--all of them more or less disturbed but M. Dantes. As for him,
the same calm smile was on his lip, the same mild light in his eye and
the same unchanging resolution upon his countenance.

"Who attended the Chamber of Deputies to-day?" asked Marrast. "Did you,
Lamartine?"

"I did," was the reply, "and witnessed a somewhat stormy sitting. At
three o'clock, as usual, old Sauzet took the chair. Our friends were
there in large numbers; the Ministerial benches were also filled.
Immediately after, M. Guizot entered. He had been saluted with groans by
the 10th Legion, stationed on guard without, and with cries of 'Down
with Guizot!' Calm, undisturbed, stony in aspect, though strangely
pallid, he entered and took his seat. M. Vavin, Deputy for the Seine,
instantly mounted the tribune. As Deputy of Paris he had, he said, a
solemn duty to fulfill. For twenty-four hours Paris had been in
insurrection. Why was this? He called on the Minister of the Interior to
explain."

"And what said Guizot?" asked Louis Blanc, eagerly.

"He said he thought the public interest did not demand, nor was it
proper for the Chamber at that time, to enter into debate on the
subject. The King had called M. le Comte Mole to form a new cabinet."

"And then the left cheered?" exclaimed Flocon.

"Most emphatically," was the reply.

"And what said Guizot then?" asked Ledru Rollin.

"He calmly said that no such demonstrations could induce him to add to
or withhold a single syllable of what he designed to say, or to
pretermit a single act he had designed to do. As long as his Ministry
remained in office he should cause public order to be respected,
according to his best judgment, and as he had always done. He should
consider himself answerable for all that might happen, and should in all
things act as conscience might dictate for the best interests of the
country."

"A noble answer!" exclaimed M. Dantes, with enthusiasm.

Ledru Rollin and Louis Blanc assented.

"And what next?" pursued Flocon.

"After considerable confusion," continued Lamartine, "M. Odillon Barrot
rose and demanded, in consequence of the situation of the cabinet, a
postponement of the proposition for its impeachment, fixed for
to-morrow."

"Ah! And what said the Chamber?" asked Flo