"And what do you intend to do, gentlemen?" asked Madame-Récamier, in her soft and charming voice.
"Why, madame," replied Boissy d'Anglas, "we intend to emulate the Roman senators when the Gauls invaded the Capitol; we shall die at our posts."
"Would it be possible to see that?" asked M. Récamier with the utmost self-possession. "I have seen the Convention massacred by piecemeal, and I should like to see it done in a body."
"Be there to-morrow about one o'clock," replied Boissy d'Anglas, with the same imperturbable calm. "That is probably when the struggle will begin."
"Oh, not at all," cried a new arrival; "you will not secure the glory of martyrdom for yourselves, you are saved."
"Come, no pleasantries, Saint-Victor," said Madame de Staël to the last speaker.
"Madame, I never jest," said Coster de Saint-Victor, greeting Madame de Staël, Madame de Krüdener, and Madame Récamier with a comprehensive bow.
"But what is the news? What do you mean by this universal salvation?" asked Benjamin Constant.
"The news, ladies and gentlemen—I beg pardon, citizens and citizenesses—is that, in accordance with a proposition of the citizen Merlin of Douai, the National Convention has just decreed that Brigadier-General Barras is to be appointed commander of the armed forces, in reward for his services in Thermidor. It is true he cannot make long speeches, but he excels in the construction of short, but vehement and energetic phrases. Do you not see that since General Barras is to defend the Convention, the Convention is saved? And now that I have done my duty in reassuring you, baroness, I am going home to make my preparations."
"For what?" asked Madame de Staël.