ve washed off the bloody stain
which September put upon them. Committed, at the age of thirty-five,
to the judgment of posterity, Danton has left us the memory of a great
intellect, a strong and powerful character, noble private qualities,
more than one generous action,--all derived from his own being; whereas
the bloody errors he committed were the contagion of his epoch. In a
word, with men of his quality, unjust would be the justice which does
not temper itself with mercy. And here, messieurs, you have in your
midst--better than you, better than I, better than all orators and
historians--a woman who has weighed and understood Danton, and who says
to the pitiless, with the impulse of her charity, 'He has gone to God;
let us pray for him.'"

The trap thus avoided by this happy allusion to Mother Marie-des-Anges,
and the assembly evidently satisfied, it might be supposed that the
candidate had come to the end of his baiting. The colonel was even
preparing to pass to the vote, when several electors sprang up,
declaring that two important explanations were still required from the
candidate. He had said that he should ever be found an obstacle to all
attempts of the royal power to subvert our institutions. What did he
mean by such resistance? Was it armed resistance, the resistance of
riots and barricades?

"Barricades," replied Sallenauve, "have nearly always seemed to me
machines which turned of themselves and crushed the men who raised them.
We must believe that in the nature of riots there is something which
serves the interests of the government, for I have invariably heard the
police accused of inciting them. My resistance, that which I spoke of,
will ever be a legal resistance, pursued by legal means, by the press,
by the tribune, and with patience,--that great force granted to the
oppressed and to the vanquished."

If you knew Latin, madame, I should say to you, _In cauda venenum_;
which means, "In the tail of the serpent is its venom,"--a remark of
antiquity which modern science does not admit. Monsieur de l'Estorade
was not mistaken; Sallenauve's private life was destined to be
ransacked, and, no doubt under the inspiration of the virtuous Maxime de
Trailles, the second question put to our friend was about the handsome
Italian woman said to be _hidden_ by him in his house in Paris.

Sallenauve showed no embarrassment at being thus interpellated. He
merely asked whether the assembly would think proper to spend