"Rest easy; I shall not forget you. It is two o'clock; I shall start for Paris at five. At six, you might be here with the woman you choose to second you."
"Right; but then, there is no time to lose," said Pitou. "I hope we shall soon meet again, dear Master Billet."
Billet watched him hurrying away as long as he could see him, and when he disappeared, he said: "Now, why did not Catherine fall in love with an honest chap like that, rather than one of those noble vermin who leaves her a mother without being a wife, and a widow without her being wed."
It is needless to say that Billet got upon the Villers Cotterets stage to ride to Paris at five, and that at six Catherine and little Isidore re-entered the farm.
Billet found himself among young men in the House, not merely representatives, but fighters; for it was felt that they had to wrestle with the unknown.
They were armed against two enemies, the clergy and the nobility. If these resisted, the orders were for them to be overcome.
The king was pitied, and the members were left free to treat him as occasion dictated. It was hoped that he might escape the threefold power of the queen, the clergy, and the aristocracy; if they upheld him, they would all be broken to pieces with him. They moved that the title of majesty should be suppressed.
"What shall we call the executive power, then?" asked a voice.
"Call him 'the King of the French,'" shouted Billet. "It is a pretty title enough for Capet to be satisfied with."
Moreover, instead of a throne, the King of the French had to content himself with a plain arm-chair, and that was placed on the left of the speaker's, so that the monarch should be subordinated.