ded seemed
to sway Gerald; then, suddenly changing his resolution, he calmly
answered that Mirabeau appeared to him so ill as to preclude all hope of
recovery, and that his state portended but few hours of life.

'Ask him who he himself is?'--'Why and how he came there?'--'What
medicine is Riquetti taking?'--'Who administers it?'--'Let this man give
an account of himself!' Such, and such like, were the cries that now
resounded on all sides, and Gerald saw himself at once surrounded by a
mob, whose demands were uttered in no doubtful tone.

'The Citizen Riquetti is one whose life is dear to the Republic,' broke
in Cabrot; 'all Frenchmen have a right to investigate whatever affects
that life. Some aver that he is the victim of assassination----'

'I say, and will maintain it, broke in the man who had made this
assertion before; 'they have given him some stuff that causes a gradual
decay.'

'Let this man declare himself. Who are you, Citizen, and whence?'
asked another, confronting Fitzgerald. 'What business came you here to
transact with the Citizen Riquetti?'

'Have I asked _you_, or _you_ or _you_,' said Gerald, turning proudly
from one to the other of those around him, 'of your private affairs?
Have I dared to interrogate _you_ as to who you are, whence you came,
whither you go? and by what presumption do you take this liberty with
_me_?'

'By that which a care of the public safety imposes,' said Cabrot. 'As
Commissary of the fifth "arrondissement," I demand this citizen's name.'

'You are right to be boastful of your liberty!' said Gerald insolently,
'when a man cannot walk the streets, nor even visit a dying friend,
without submitting himself to the treatment of a criminal.'

'He a friend of Gabriel Riquetti!' burst in Cabrot. 'Look, I beseech
you, at the appearance of the man who gives himself this title.'

'So, then, it is to my humble dress you object. Citizens, this speaks
well for your fraternity and equality.'

'You shall not evade a reckoning with us in this wise, said Cabrot. 'Let
us take him to the Corps du Garde, citizens.'

'Ay! away with him to the Corps du Garde!' cried several together.

Gerald became suddenly struck by the rashness of his momentary loss of
temper, and quietly said, 'I'll not give you such trouble, citizens.
What is it you wish to hear?'

'Your compliance comes too late,' said Cabrot; 'we will do the thing in
order; off with us to the Corps du Garde!'

'I appeal to you