Here and there fiddlers, standing on chairs, taught to choirs of young girls and young men the new anthem by Gossec, to be sung at the fête, a hymn to the Supreme Being, composed specially for the occasion. Some, carried away by their enthusiasm, followed up the hymn with a waltz or a gavotte.
Olivier opened his eyes in astonishment, asking himself if all this was real, or if he was in an extravagant dream. On one side he saw but sorrow, on the other only joy! On one side, tears, despair, and the scaffold; on the other, laughter, revelry, and flowers! And the laughter and flowers were to honour and glorify the very one who was the cause of all this misery, who tore children relentlessly from the arms of their mothers as he sent them to death!
At this very moment the abhorred name fell on his ears: "Robespierre! ... There's Robespierre!" he heard the crowd whispering.
He turned round and saw some of them looking curiously at a man who was crossing the square, seemingly in great haste, with a woman leaning on his arm. Olivier understood that it was the Incorruptible who was passing within barely an arm's length of him! He watched him disappear in the crowd.
They were right; it was Robespierre, who had been enjoying a walk in the Champs-Elysées with Cornélie Duplay. Returning home to supper, at Duplay's house in the Rue Saint-Honoré, he could not resist crossing the square to have a foretaste of the rejoicings in honour of his fête, to contemplate behind the curtain the scene of his approaching triumph. Cornélie had just said to him in delight, indicating the dancing groups,—
"The people seem to be devoted to it, heart and soul."
This flattered Robespierre's pride, who rewarded her with a gentle pressure of the arm.
They continued their walk, deep in their own thoughts. Cornélie was wondering if her dress would be at home when she arrived, that beautiful dress for the fête, confided on this special occasion to a private dressmaker. Robespierre, always suspicious and alert, was asking himself if he had done well to listen to her, and thus cross the Place de la Révolution at the risk of suggesting to the Committee of Public Safety the idea, absurd in itself, that he had wished to attract the notice of the populace.
The couple now reached the door of the Duplays, in the Rue Saint-Honoré, and Robespierre stepped aside gallantly for Cornélie to pass in.
At the same moment Olivier, who had stopped in deep thought at the Place de la Révolution, retraced his steps homeward, fired with a sudden resolution for the morrow.