"Between ourselves," he said, "the guillotine is becoming unpopular."
And he confessed that the young fanatic's cry of "Down with the scaffold!" at the fête, seemed to have been trembling on the lips of a considerable number of the spectators, who were more than half inclined to protect the insulter from the violence of the crowd.
"They are heartily sick of it," he continued. "Another proof of this is the protest the inhabitants near the Bastille have been making against its erection there. The Committee of Public Safety had to see into the affair to-day in your absence, and have decided that the guillotine should be transported to the Barrière du Trône."
This last piece of news exasperated Robespierre beyond measure. What! His colleagues of the Committee dared to take such an important step in his absence? And that, too, the very day after he had been publicly insulted! In truth, the moment was well chosen to show themselves ashamed of the scaffold! And as Robespierre questioned Duplay on the number of prisoners condemned during the day, he was astonished to learn that there were only fifteen. Had the Tribunal then been won over by the Conspiracy of the Lenient? However, the carpenter assured him that it was simply a coincidence, for he had heard Fouquier-Tinville, the Public Prosecutor, remark at the conclusion of the sitting that if things continued at this rate there would never be an end of it. There were, it appeared, at that moment seven thousand prisoners under lock and key.
"Fouquier-Tinville is right," said Robespierre; "things move too slowly."
"But how can they go quicker?" asked Duplay, who regarded his juryman's duties as sacred.
"Have patience! I have my plans."
"May we hear them?"
"You shall know to-morrow. I must first of all make an example of that young fanatic, with whom it is time to deal."
And turning to Didier he asked—