"And what would you do?"
"I would try to secure a dozen cannon which would talk louder than they."
"Did you not tell me one day at Toulon that you had witnessed the rising of the 20th of June from the terrace beside the ornamental waters?"
The young man shrugged his shoulders contemptuously.
"Yes," he said, "I saw your poor King Louis XVI. put on the red cap, which did not prevent his head from falling, and which only disgraced it. And I even said to Bourrienne, who was with me that day, 'How could they admit that rabble to the château? They should have swept four or five hundred out with cannon, the rest would have run out of themselves.'"
"Unfortunately," resumed Barras, "to-day there are five thousand instead of five hundred to be swept out."
The young man smiled carelessly.
"A difference of number, that is all," he replied; "but what ultimate difference, so long as the result is the same? The rest is a mere matter of detail."
"So much so that you were defeating the insurgents when I came in?"
"I was making the endeavor."