was filled to its utmost capacity for the revival of the late
citoyen Moliere's comedy.

The Assembly of the Convention having voted the new law which
placed the lives of thousands at the mercy of a few human
bloodhounds, adjourned its sitting and proceeded to the Rue de
Richelieu.

Already the house was full when the fathers of the people made
their way to the seats which had been reserved for them. An awed
hush descended on the throng as one by one the men whose very
names inspired horror and dread filed in through the narrow
gangways of the stalls or took their places in the tiny boxes
around.

Citizen Robespierre's neatly bewigged head soon appeared in one of
these; his bosom friend St. Just was with him, and also his sister
Charlotte. Danton, like a big, shaggy-coated lion, elbowed his
way into the stalls, whilst Sauterre, the handsome butcher and
idol of the people of Paris, was loudly acclaimed as his huge
frame, gorgeously clad in the uniform of the National Guard, was
sighted on one of the tiers above.

The public in the parterre and in the galleries whispered
excitedly; the awe-inspiring names flew about hither and thither
on the wings of the overheated air. Women craned their necks to
catch sight of heads which mayhap on the morrow would roll into
the gruesome basket at the foot of the guillotine.

In one of the tiny avant-scene boxes two men had taken their seats