a barricade, as well as all the public
carriages, and the people sang the Marseillaise, the Parisienne and the
Hymn of the Girondins. A guard-house was also consumed."

"Have you heard Bugeaud's remark at noon, when looking upon the Place de
la Concorde?" asked Marrast.

"We have been too busy to-day to hear anything," said Ledru Rollin.

"'Ah! we shall have a day of it,' said the bloodthirsty old hero. 'I
care not for the day,' said the pale Guizot, 'but the night!'"

"The people made quite a demonstration about Guizot, I hear," said
Flocon. "They assailed him with a shower of groans, it is said, and some
of the gamins flung pebbles at his gates."

"The most significant shout before the office of Foreign Affairs was
this," said Ledru Rollin--"'Countess of Leven, where is the Minister?'"

"And the very moment this was occurring," said Flocon, "I understand
that M. Thiers, on his return from the Chamber, in passing through the
Champs-Elysees, narrowly escaped a most unwelcome ovation from the
people. The two rivals were duly and simultaneously honored it seems."

"Thus much for to-day," said Marrast; "what of to-night?"

"Barricades rise all over Paris," said M. Dantes. "But we can do no
more. Let us each retire to his home. To-morrow the National Guard will
fraternize with the people, and the Ministry will resign."

A few words of parting salutation passed, and all departed.

M. Dantes and Lamartine left the office in company.

"What say you, Edmond," asked Lamartine, "will your wife spare you long
enough from her pillow to make with me a brief tour of the town?"

"Mercedes is rather exacting," said Dantes, with a laugh; "but if your
fair lady will suffer your absence, mine must do the same, I fear."

"Well, then, let us first to the Hotel de Ville, that grand centre of
Paris in all that is revolutionary."

As the two friends passed along, conversing on the events of the day and
the anticipations of the morrow, they were met, from time to time, by
knots of men at the corners, eagerly recounting the incidents of the
hour; the roll of drums was heard in the distance, and occasionally
there came the heavy and measured tread of infantry, the clatter of
cavalry and the lumbering of artillery, as they passed on their way. All
the shops and cafes were closed. Many of the lamps were demolished, and
others were not lighted, the gas being shut off. A fearful gloom brooded
over the city. The winter wind swept sharply