“Triple fool!” replied Colbert, furiously shaking his hair, thick and black as a mane, “what are you telling me? What! that I could have had an idea of a riot! Are you mad or drunk?”
“But, monsieur, they cried, ‘Vive Colbert!’” replied the trembling watch.
“A handful of conspirators——”
“No, no; a mass of people.”
“Ah! indeed,” said Colbert, expanding. “A mass of people cried, ‘Vive Colbert!’ Are you certain of what you say, monsieur?”
“We had nothing to do but open our ears, or rather to close them, so terrible were the cries.”
“And this was from the people, the real people?”
“Certainly, monsieur; only these real people beat us.”
“Oh! very well,” continued Colbert, thoughtfully. “Then you suppose it was the people alone who wished to burn the condemned?”
“Oh! yes, monsieur.”