one of the Laffitte et Caillard diligences, which had been used as a
barricade, and set up again. It was full of people inside, and they
clustered on the roof like bees, all of them singing in chorus. Between
the choruses, sharp volleys of musketry rang out, and the vehicle, drawn
by three or four hundred people holding on to ropes, tore round the
square, amid a concert of varied yells. Though it was very late when we
reached the palace, it was all lighted up, and every door stood open.
Anybody who chose could go in, and when we went up the stairs we found
many people already settled on the steps, prepared to spend the night
there. We saw my father in his study, and then we were sent to bed, or
rather to camp out in the rooms we usually slept in. The next day the
firing slackened, but the general idleness continued; everybody was
walking about. Soon the question of food began to press, for all
supplies and trade were stopped by the universal barricades. Everybody
asked everybody else what was going on, a subject upon which every one
except the leaders was profoundly ignorant. The multitude was just like
an immense flock of sheep, whose shepherds had been driven away, and who
seemed to wonder why the new dogs who were to herd them did not make
their appearance. There was no bad feeling; now and then there would be
a panic, everybody taking to their heels, nobody knew why, and then
stopping again and bursting out laughing. Sometimes a noise arose, and
swelled as it drew nearer. It was some popular leader going to the Hotel
de Ville or the Palais-Royal, with two or three claqueurs before him, to
stir up an enthusiasm in which everybody shared, without having a notion
of the name of the hero they were acclaiming, yet glad to be able thus
to show off their civic rights. Then there would be a fit of general
tenderness. Everybody kissed everybody else vehemently. In some cases a
transport of patriotism thus calmed itself; in others perhaps it was the
effect of the extreme heat, and the consequent thirst, which had not
gone unquenched, and in others, again, it was merely the relaxation of