"'How wonderful to be a revolutionist! Please tell me all about revolutions. I never met a revolutionist before.'
"She said it, clinging trustfully to my arm, while we walked together on the high, green hill of the Buttes Chaumont. All Paris was stretched out below us like a map. The blue smoke floated upwards from the chimneys in the autumn air. A misty haze obscured the view beyond the ramparts, and the booming of the big guns of Mont Valerien was the only sign of war; but from the streets ascended a confused hum of angry voices—the noise which, in Paris, expresses the discontent which the man of action can turn into a revolution almost by a gesture. In truth, it was high time for another revolution, and here was Fifine pressing me with her questions—
"We walked together on the high, green hill."
"'Please tell me all about revolutions. Please tell me what a revolution looks like.'
"Curious, is it not, that by such artless speeches women win men's hearts? One wonders if they know it. I answered, half in jest, while pondering a project in my mind—
"'A revolution, amie chérie? It is the simplest matter in the world. You get up in the morning feeling discontented, and decide that the Government must be overthrown. Other people are of the same opinion. You leap upon a café table and harangue them until you have stirred them to the depths of their souls; then you say, "To the Hôtel de Ville!" Some of you march thither, while others go into the churches and ring bells. The procession swells in volume; you call upon the soldiers to fraternise with you; the constituted authorities disappear through the back door. You write names on slips of paper and toss them out of the window. This is the list of the new Government. It is all over in the twinkling of an eye.'
"'How wonderful!' Fifine ejaculated, opening her eyes wide.
"A sudden idea came to me, and I acted upon it.
"'My angel!' I cried. 'I have told you what a revolution looks like. Now come with me, and I will show you one.'