"I shall tell you in a few words how the situation has shaped itself to-day," proceeded Lebrenn. "Then judge whether my plan is good or bad; oppose it, if you disapprove, or encourage me if you approve."
"I listen, my friend," answered Madam Lebrenn calm, serious and thoughtful, like one of our mothers of old at the solemn councils where their views prevailed more than once.
Monsieur Lebrenn proceeded:
"After having carried on their agitation in France during three months by means of reform banquets, the deputies yesterday summoned the people to the street. Heart seemed to have failed the intrepid agitators at the last moment. They did not dare to appear at the rendezvous which they themselves had set. The people came in order to maintain their right of assemblage and to run their own business. It is now rumored that the King has appointed a cabinet out of the leaders of the dynastic center. This concession does not satisfy us. What we want, what the people want, is the total overthrow of the monarchy; we want the Republic, which means sovereignty for all—political rights for all—in order to insure education, wellbeing, work, and credit to all, provided we are brave and honest. That is our program, wife! Is it right or wrong?"
"Right!" answered Madam Lebrenn in a tone of firm conviction. "It is right!"
"I told you what we want," proceeded Lebrenn. "I shall now mention what we want no longer—we no longer want that two hundred thousand privileged electors be the sole arbiters of the fate of thirty-eight million proletarians or small holders, similar to what happened when a trifling minority of conquerors, Roman or Frankish, despoiled, enslaved and exploited our fathers for twenty centuries. No, we want an electoral or industrial feudality no more than we will tolerate the feudality of conquerors! Wife, is that right, or is it wrong?"
"It is right! Serfdom and even slavery have in reality perpetuated themselves down to our own days," answered Madam Lebrenn with indignation. "It is right! I am a woman, and I have seen women, the slaves of an insufficient wage, die by degrees, exhausted by excessive toil and want. It is right! I am a mother, I have seen young girls, the virtual slaves of certain manufacturers, forced to choose between dishonor and enforced idleness, which means hunger. It is right! I am a wife, and I have seen fathers of families, honest, industrious and intelligent traders, the slaves and victims of the whim or the usurious cupidity of their seigneurs the large capitalists, suffer bankruptcy, and be plunged into ruin and despair. Finally, your resolution is good and just, my friend," added Madam Lebrenn, extending her hand to her husband, "because, if you have hitherto been fortunate enough to escape many a snare, it is your duty to go to the assistance of those of our brothers who are afflicted with misfortunes that we remain exempt from."
"Brave and generous woman! You redouble my strength and courage," said the merchant, pressing Madam Lebrenn's hand in ecstacy. "I expected no less from you. But just as are the rights that we demand for our brothers, they will have to be conquered by force, arms in hand."
"I believe it, my friend."
"Accordingly," proceeded the merchant, "to-night, the barricades—to-morrow, battle. That is the reason why I fetched my son from his College. Do you approve? Shall he remain with us?"