t, "Let the outrage be thorough. Let the _coup
d'etat_ find us on our seats. Let us go to the Salle des Seances," he
added. "Since things have come to such a pass, let us afford the genuine
and living spectacle of an 18th Brumaire."

They all repaired to the Hall of Assembly. The passage was free. The
Salle Casimir-Perier was not yet occupied by the soldiers.

They numbered about sixty. Several were girded with their scarves of
office. They entered the Hall meditatively.

There, M. de Resseguier, undoubtedly with a good purpose, and in order
to form a more compact group, urged that they should all install
themselves on the Right side.

"No," said Marc Dufraisse, "every one to his bench." They scattered
themselves about the Hall, each in his usual place.

M. Monet, who sat on one of the lower benches of the Left Centre, held
in his hand a copy of the Constitution.

Several minutes elapsed. No one spoke. It was the silence of expectation
which precedes decisive deeds and final crises, and during which every
one seems respectfully to listen to the last instructions of his
conscience.

Suddenly the soldiers of the _Gendarmerie Mobile_, headed by a captain
with his sword drawn, appeared on the threshold. The Hall of Assembly
was violated. The Representatives rose from their seats simultaneously,
shouting "Vive la Republique!"

The Representative Monet alone remained standing, and in a loud and
indignant voice, which resounded through the empty hall like a trumpet,
ordered the soldiers to halt.

The soldiers halted, looking at the Representatives with a bewildered
air.

The soldiers as yet only blocked up the lobby of the Left, and had not
passed beyond the Tribune.

Then the Representative Monet read the Articles 36, 37, and 68 of the
Constitution.

Articles 36 and 37 established the inviolability of the
Representatives. Article 68 deposed the President in the event of
treason.

That moment was a solemn one. The soldiers listened in silence.

The Articles having been read, Representative d'Adelsward, who sat on
the first lower bench of the Left, and who was nearest to the soldiers,
turned towards them and said,--

"Soldiers, you see that the President of the Republic is a traitor, and
would make traitors of you. You violate the sacred precinct of rational
Representation. In the name of the Constitution, in the name of the Law,
we order you to withdraw."

While Adelsward was speaking, the major commandin