ppointed, have always governed; often unwisely I admit, but
is it likely that the mob would govern better? That is the question.
At present they seem bent on showing their incapacity to govern
even themselves."

The Marquis de St. Caux had, in some respects, the thoughts and
opinions of the old school. He was a royalist pure and simple. As
to politics, he troubled his head little about them. These were a
matter for ministers. It was their business to find a remedy for
the general ills. As to the National Assembly which represented
only the middle class and people, he regarded it with contempt.

"Why, it was from the middle class," he said, "that the oppressors
of the people were drawn. It is they who were farmers-general,
collectors, and officials of all kinds. It is they who ground
down the nation and enriched themselves with the spoil. It is not
the nobles who dirtied their hands with money wrung from the poor.
By all means let the middle class have a share in the government;
but it is not a share they desire. The clergy are to have no voice;
the nobility are to have no voice; the king himself is to be a
cipher. All power is to be placed in the hands of these men, the
chosen of the scum of the great towns, the mere mouthpieces of the
ignorant mob. It is not order that these gentry are organizing, it
is disorder."

Such were the opinions of the marquis, but he was tolerant of other
views, and at the gatherings at the chateau Harry heard opinions
of all kinds expressed.

During his rambles alone he entered as much as he could into
conversation with the peasants, with woodcutters, foresters, and
villagers. He found that the distress which prevailed everywhere
was terrible. The people scarcely kept life together, and many
had died of absolute starvation. He found a feeling of despair
everywhere, and a dull hatred of all who were above them in the
world. Harry had difficulty in making them talk, and at first could
obtain only sullen monosyllables. His dress and appearance showed
him to belong to the hated classes, and set them against him at
once; but when he said that he was English, and that in England
people were watching with great interest what was passing in France,
they had no hesitation in speaking.

Harry's motives in endeavouring to find out what were the feelings
of the people at large, were not those of mere curiosity. He was
now much attached to the marquis and his family; and the reports
which came