manner. When it was over, Minos
said to me, "That is enough; now go and sit down, and wait until you are
called."--"Pardon me, my young friend, but I shall not go and sit down,
nor shall I wait a moment more."--"Are you making fun of us? We are
transacting most serious business, our lives are at stake. Go and sit
down."--"I have already had the honour to remark, my dear Rhadamanthus,
that I did not mean to sit down. Be kind enough to allow me to depart
instantly."--"You ask _me_ to do this?"--"Yes! you!" I shouted in a
tremendous voice. The three judges looked at me in great perplexity, and
began whispering amongst themselves. A prize fighter, by jingo! I
thought the moment had come to strike a decisive blow, so I pulled out
of my pocket a little green card, which I desired them to examine.
Immediately Minos, Aeacus, and Rhadamanthus got up, bowed to me most
respectfully, and called out to two National Guards who were at the
door, "Allow the citizen to pass."--"By-the-bye," said I, pointing, to
my friend, "this gentleman is with me."--"Allow both the citizens to
pass," shouted the lads in chorus.--"This is capital," cried my friend
as soon as we were well outside the door.--"How did you manage?"--"I
have a pass from the Central Committee."--"In your own name?"--"No, I
bought it of the widow of a Federal; who was on very good terms with
Citizen Felix Pyat."--"Why, it is just like a romance."--"Yes, but a
romance that allows me to live pretty safely in the midst of this
strange reality. Anyhow, I think we had better look out for other
lodgings."

[Illustration: HOUSE OF M. THIERS, PLACE SAINT-GEORGES.]

LXXXIII.

At ten o'clock in the evening I was walking up the Rue
Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. In these times the streets are quite deserted at
that hour. Looking on in front I saw that the Place Saint-Georges was
lighted up by long tongues of flame, that the wind blew hither and
thither. I hastened on, and was soon standing in front of M. Thiers'
house.[90] At the open gate stood a sentinel; a large fire had been
lighted in the court by the National Guards; not that the night was
cold, they seemed to have lighted it merely for the pleasure of burning
furniture and pictures, that had been left behind by the Communal
waggoners. They had already begun to pull down the right side of the
house; a pickaxe was leaning against a loosened stone; the roof had
fallen in, and a rafter was sticking out of one of the windows. The