'Nay, nay,' interposed a soft, low voice; 'I said that untried elements
in government are an experiment only warrantable in extreme cases;
just as the physician essays even a dangerous remedy, when he deems his
patient hopeless.'

'But it's your own quackeries here have made all the mischief,' broke
in the deep voice. 'If the sick man sink, it is yourselves have been the
cause.'

'Was there ever a royal cause that had not its own fatal influences?'
said another.

'There is an absurd reliance on prestige, a trust in that phantom called
Divine right, that blinds men against their better reason. This holiday
faith is but a sorry creed in times of trouble.'

'Far from this being the case,' said the deep voice, 'you will not
concede to kings what you would freely grant to your equals. You reject
their word, you distrust their oath, you prejudge their intentions, and
suspect their honour.'

'Why, Mirabeau, you ought to be at Versailles,' said another, laughing.
'The pavilion of the Queen is more your place than the table of the
Tiers-Etat.'

'So thinks he himself,' broke in the low voice. 'He expects to pilot the
wreck after we have gone off on the raft.'

'Four o'clock,' exclaimed another, pushing his chair hastily back as he
arose; 'and here is D'Entraigues fast asleep these two hours.'

'No, _parbleu!_ muttered a drowsy voice. 'I closed my eyes when the
Bordeaux was finished, and began to reflect on Lafayette's breakfast.
Isn't this the day?'

'To be sure. You are coming, Mirabeau?'

'Of course, we will all be there.'

'I must be at St. Frotin by seven o'clock,' said one.

'And I have to see Marigni at the mill of Montmorency, by the same
hour.'

'A duel?'

'Yes; they are both Vendeans, and may kill each other without damage to
the State.'

'He was going to say Republic!' cried another, laughing.

'Who talks of a Republic?' interposed a rough voice angrily.

'Be calm, messieurs--all religions are to be respected,'

'True, Mirabeau; but this is to proclaim none.'

'Who knows? They never excavate near Rome but they discover some
long-forgotten deity! Can you or I venture to say what new faith may not
arise out of these ashes?'

'Let it but repudiate the law of debt and discountenance marriage,' said
another, 'and I am its first convert.'

'Good-bye, Mirabeau, adieu,' cried several together, and they were now
heard descending the stairs. Meanwhile, Mirabeau drew back the curtain
and looked out upo