human
Look no further, citizen, said he, holding out his hand;
gpt
Faith, no, he said;
human
I have just come from Cléry Hall. My carriage could not pass the Pont-Neuf, which was guarded, so I was obliged to get here by the quays, where the drums are making a devil of a noise. I crossed the Pont Égalité. It is raining in torrents. Mesdames Todi and Mara sang, exquisitely, three or four selections from Gluck and Cimarosa.
gpt
What did I tell you?
human
Is it indeed drums that we hear?
gpt
Yes, replied Garat,
human
Ah! here is Boissy d'Anglas, exclaimed Madame de Staël.
gpt
He has probably come from the Convention, unless he has resigned his position as president.
human
Yes, baroness, said Boissy d'Anglas, with his melancholy smile,
gpt
I have come from the Convention; and I wish I could bring you better news.
human
Good! said Barbé-Marbois,
gpt
If that were all,
human
What is it, then?
gpt
Unless I am much mistaken, all Paris will be in flames to-morrow. And this time it is indeed civil war. The Section Le Peletier replied to our last summons that 'The Convention has five thousand men, and the Sections sixty thousand; we will give the Conventionals until daybreak to-morrow to vacate the hall of sessions. If it is not done by that time we will drive you out.'
human
And what do you intend to do, gentlemen?
gpt
Why, madame, replied Boissy d'Anglas,
human
Would it be possible to see that? asked M. Récamier with the utmost self-possession.
gpt
I have seen the Convention massacred by piecemeal, and I should like to see it done in a body.
human
Be there to-morrow about one o'clock, replied Boissy d'Anglas, with the same imperturbable calm.
gpt
That is probably when the struggle will begin.
human
Oh, not at all, cried a new arrival;
gpt
Come, no pleasantries, Saint-Victor,
human
Madame, I never jest,
gpt
But what is the news? What do you mean by this universal salvation?
human
The news, ladies and gentlemen--I beg pardon, citizens and citizenesses--is that, in accordance with a proposition of the citizen Merlin of Douai, the National Convention has just decreed that Brigadier-General Barras is to be appointed commander of the armed forces, in reward for his services in Thermidor. It is true he cannot make long speeches, but he excels in the construction of short, but vehement and energetic phrases. Do you not see that since General Barras is to defend the Convention, the Convention is saved? And now that I have done my duty in reassuring you, baroness, I am going home to make my preparations.
gpt
For what?
human
To fight against him to-morrow, madame, and right willingly too.
gpt
Then you are a royalist, Coster?
human
Why, yes, replied the young man;
gpt
I find that there are more pretty women in that party than in the others. And then--and then--then I have other reasons which are known only to myself.