views, and at the gatherings at the chateau Harry heard opinions
of all kinds expressed.

During his rambles alone he entered as much as he could into
conversation with the peasants, with woodcutters, foresters, and
villagers. He found that the distress which prevailed everywhere
was terrible. The people scarcely kept life together, and many
had died of absolute starvation. He found a feeling of despair
everywhere, and a dull hatred of all who were above them in the
world. Harry had difficulty in making them talk, and at first could
obtain only sullen monosyllables. His dress and appearance showed
him to belong to the hated classes, and set them against him at
once; but when he said that he was English, and that in England
people were watching with great interest what was passing in France,
they had no hesitation in speaking.

Harry's motives in endeavouring to find out what were the feelings
of the people at large, were not those of mere curiosity. He was
now much attached to the marquis and his family; and the reports
which came from all parts of France, as well as from Paris, together
with the talk among the visitors at the chateau, convinced him that
the state of affairs was more serious than the marquis was inclined
to admit. The capture of the Bastille and the slaughter of its
defenders - the massacres of persons obnoxious to the mob, not only
in the streets of Paris but in those of other great towns, proved
that the lower class, if they once obtained the upper hand, were
ready to go all lengths; while the number of the nobility who were
flocking across the frontier showed that among this body there
existed grievous apprehensions as to the future.