walked."

The exasperated physician shouted: "Hold your peace! For Heaven's
sake! If you had washed your feet oftener, it would not have
happened." Then, seizing him by the neck, he hissed in his face:
"Can you not comprehend that we are living in a Republic,
stupid?"

But professional sentiment calmed him suddenly, and he let the
astonished old couple out of the house, repeating all the time:

"Return to-morrow, return to-morrow, my friends; I have no more
time to-day."

While equipping himself from head to foot, he gave another series
of urgent orders to the maid:

"Run to Lieutenant Picard's and to Sub-lieutenant Pommel's and
say to them that I want them here immediately. Send Torcheboeuf
to me, too, with his drum. Quick, now! Quick!" And when Celeste
was gone, he collected his thoughts and prepared to surmount the
difficulties of the situation.

The three men arrived together. They were in their working
clothes. The Commander, who had expected to see them in uniform,
had a fit of surprise.

"You know nothing, then? The Emperor has been taken prisoner. A
Republic is proclaimed. My position is delicate, not to say
perilous."