The
king will then be compelled to make concessions to the revolutionists."
"To those Jacobins!" shouted the smuggler. "Ha! if the king would let
me have my way, I'd answer for my thousand men; we'd soon wring their
necks and be rid of them."
"Monsieur /de/ Cottereau," said the marquis, "I see some of our
invited guests arriving. We must all do our best by attention and
courtesy to make them share our sacred enterprise; you will agree, I
am sure, that this is not the moment to bring forward your demands,
however just they may be."
So saying, the marquis went to the door, as if to meet certain of the
country nobles who were entering the room, but the bold smuggler
barred his way in a respectful manner.
"No, no, monsieur le marquis, excuse me," he said; "the Jacobins
taught me too well in 1793 that it is not he who sows and reaps who
eats the bread. Sign this bit of paper for me, and to-morrow I'll
bring you fifteen hundred gars. If not, I'll treat with the First
Consul."
Looking haughtily about him, the marquis saw plainly that the boldness
of the old partisan and his resolute air were not displeasing to any
of the spectators of this debate. One man alone, sitting by himself in
a corner of the room, appeared to take no part in the scene, and to be
chiefly occupied in filling his pipe. The contemptuous air with which
he glanced at the speakers, his modest demeanor, and a look of
sympathy which the marquis encountered in his eyes, made the young
leader observe the man, whom he then recognized as Major Brigaut, and
he went suddenly up to him.
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