"But it seems to me that the interest remains the same."
"Quite possibly. Only the situation has changed in the last twenty-four hours!"
The salon door again opened at that moment. It was not, however, a negotiator this time, but a man of the people. He was in his working blouse; his beard was long and his head bound up in a bloodstained handkerchief; he held a rifle in his hand.
"Pardon, Monsieur Laffitte," he said, as he clashed his gun on the parquetry floor, "there is a rumour that they are negotiating through you with Charles X."
"Yes," said Laffitte, "and you do not want any negotiations, is that it, my friend?"
"We want no more Bourbons and no more Jesuits!" was the cry being shouted in the antechambers.
This cry was taken up even in the street outside.
"You see and hear for yourself?" said M. Laffitte.
"Then you will listen to nothing?"