"He conspires with the foreigner, and wants to deliver France to the enemy. The Tuileries is the center of the conspiracy, and we have decided to take possession of the Tuileries. Do you understand this, Pitou?"
"Of course I understand. But, look here, Master Billet; we took the Bastile, and this will not be so hard a job."
"That's where you are out."
"What, more difficult, when the walls are not so high?"
"That's so; but they are better guarded. The Bastile had but a hundred old soldiers to guard it, while the palace has three or four thousand men; this is saying nothing of the Bastile having been carried by surprise, while the Tuileries folk must know we mean to attack, and will be on the lookout."
"They will defend it, will they?" queried Pitou.
"Yes," replied Billet—"all the more as the defense is trusted to Count Charny, they say."
"Indeed. He did leave Boursonnes with his lady by the post," observed Pitou. "Lor', is he a traitor, too?"
"No; he is an aristocrat, that is all. He has always been for the court, so that he is no traitor to the people; he never asked us to put any faith in him."