early, pale and troubled, but stern and
unbending. All the Ministers followed him."

"What was discussed?" asked Marrast.

"The Bordeaux Bank Bill."

"Ah!" cried Ledru Rollin again.

"Yes," continued Flocon, "until five o'clock that bill was discussed.
Barrot then ascended the tribune and deposited a general proposition to
impeach the Ministry."

"And what was done with it?" asked Louis Blanc.

"The President raised the sitting without reading it, but announced that
the bureaux should have it for examination on Thursday."

"Infamous!" cried Ledru Rollin.

"It is all as it should be," said M. Dantes, calmly.

"And the peers--what of them?"

"The Marquis de Boissy made an effort to get a hearing on the state of
Paris, but, of course, it was in vain."

"Is it true," asked Flocon, "that the rappel has been beaten to-day?"

"It was beaten in the Quartier St. Honore, at dawn," said Louis Blanc,
"and this evening, at about five o'clock, in several of the
arrondissements. But no reliance need be placed on the National Guard.
They are with us--they are of the people--they shout, 'Vive la
Reforme!'"

"But the Municipal Guard and the Line? I am told that an immense body of
them was this evening, at about eight o'clock, reviewed by the King and
the Dukes of Nemours and Montpensier, in the Place du Carrousel," said
Flocon.

"That's true," said Ledru Rollin; "I witnessed it myself in passing, and
I could not help saying, 'It is the last.'"

"Six thousand troops of the Line are on the boulevards, from the
Madeleine to the Porte St. Martin," said M. Dantes. "The Hotel de Ville,
the Places de la Bastille, de la Concorde and du Carrousel, and the
Quays frown with artillery. To-morrow will be a warm day!"

"It has been rather warm to-day in some parts of Paris," said Louis
Blanc, smiling. "Was there ever a grander spectacle than that in the
Place de la Concorde at noon? At least one hundred thousand men were
there assembled. Rushing across the bridge, they gathered around the
Chamber of Deputies--then from the southern gate of the Tuileries issued
two bodies of troops, one of mounted Municipal Guards, the other
infantry of the Line, and, pressing on the dense mass, they drove them
over the bridge. Only a few old fruitwomen were crushed beneath the
horses' hoofs, and a few of the troops were wounded by pebbles,
however."

"At the same time," said Flocon, "all the chains in the Champs-Elysees
were in requisition for