"To arms!" cried Philip.
He ran to the lower hall, which was used as an armory. His father, the visitors and the servants, who were all devoted to the Chamondrin family, followed him, while Antoinette stood watching in alarm this formidable horde of invaders.
The Abbé Peretty advanced towards the intruders.
"What do you desire, my friends?" he asked, calmly.
"Open the gates!" responded the less excited among the crowd.
"We want Chamondrin's head!" exclaimed others.
"Have you any just cause of complaint against the Marquis?" persisted the abbé, striving to calm the furious throng.
"Death to the aristocrats!" the crowd responded with one voice.
One man went so far as to point his gun at the venerable priest, who, without once losing his sang-froid, recrossed the court-yard, keeping his face turned towards the excited band outside, and rejoined his companions, who under the leadership of the Marquis and Philip were just emerging from the hall, armed to the teeth.
"They will not listen to reason," said the Abbé Peretty, calmly!