"My colleagues?"
"Yes; I do not want you to say that you are hampered by such a one. Choose your Cabinet, sir."
"Sire, you are fixing grave responsibility on me."
"I believe I am meeting your wishes by putting it on you."
"Sire, I know nobody at Paris save one, Lacoste, whom I propose for the navy office."
"Lacoste? A clerk in the naval stores, I believe?" questioned the king.
"Who resigned rather than connive at some foul play."
"That's a good recommendation. What about the others?'"
"I must consult Petion, Brissot, Condorcet—"
"The Girondists, in short?"