putation from the artisans; it was
received with an uproar of applause from the centre of the extreme right
of the benches, and from the throngs of blouses in the galleries. The
tumult having, at length, subsided, the order of the day was announced
to be the discussion of the bill introduced by M. Dantes, having for its
purpose the general amelioration of the condition of the industrial
classes in the Kingdom; and M. Dantes was himself announced to be the
first on the list to occupy the tribune. A deep murmur of anticipation
ran around the vast hall at this announcement. The multitudes in the
galleries leaned forward to gain a better view of this idol, and to
catch every syllable that might fall from his lips; and every eye among
the members was turned to the seat of M. Dantes, on the centre right of
the benches.

A tall figure in black, with a white cravat, rose and advanced to the
tribune slowly, amid a stillness as hushed and breathless as the prior
excitement had been noisy. In age, M. Dantes seemed about fifty or
fifty-five. His form was slight and his movements were graceful and
dignified. His face was livid and as calm as marble; but for the large
and eloquent eye, dark as night, one might have thought that broad white
brow, that massive chin, those firmly compressed lips and that colorless
mouth were those of a statue. Yet in the furrows of that forehead and
the deep lines of that face could be read the record of thought and
suffering. The busy plowshare had turned up the deep graves of departed
passions. No one could gaze or even glance at that face and not perceive
at once that it was the visage of a man of many sorrows--yet of a man
proud, calm, self-possessed, self-poised and indomitable. His hair,
which had been raven black, now rested in thin waves around his
expansive forehead and was sprinkled with gray, while his intellectual
countenance wore that expression of weariness and melancholy which
illness, deep study and grief invariably trace.

Mounting the steps of the tribune with slow and deliberate tread, he
drew up his tall figure, and resting his left hand, which grasped a roll
of papers, upon the marble slab, glanced around on the turbulent billows
of upturned and excited faces, as if at a loss how to address them.
Having read the bill, after the usual prefatory remarks, he began by
laying down the platform which he proposed occupying in its advocacy and
support, consisting, of course, of abstract, s